You can now explore the National Library of Norway's digital book collection and enjoy an experience similar to browsing the shelves in a physical library. The online service Maken, which is based on artificial intelligence, helps you find relevant books, even if you don't already know the title or author.
Maken is the National Library of Norway's first experiment with artificial intelligence aimed at a general audience.
- "We wanted to create a new way of finding your way around the Online Library that is useful, entertaining and interesting for users. Now we are very excited about the reception and hope that as many people as possible will test it out," says Product Owner Jørgen Schyberg at the National Library of Norway.
About Maken
When you explore using Maken, it looks for similarities between around one million digitized books and photographs, all found in the Online Library.
Unlike search services where algorithms suggest content based on previous user behavior, Maken is not based on the user's previous choices. Instead, the artificial intelligence retrieves objects based on similarities it finds between books or images. In this way, Maken helps you to make new discoveries.
- "In the development phase, we defined user groups with different interests and needs related to the service, such as authors, journalists, genealogists and librarians," says Jørgen Schyberg. "The template was then tested by real people to see how the service can meet their different needs.
Maken is now available to all users of the Online Library.
- "Because it's a lot of data and an experimental service, we're very excited about how Maken will behave with many simultaneous users, and how users will experience Maken in practice. This is a learning project for the National Library," says Schyberg.
Maken is also a brand new library service in a global context. In December, Maken as a project will be presented at Fantastic Futures 2021, the third international conference for artificial intelligence in libraries, archives and museums.
Maken was developed in collaboration between the National Library of Norway and Dekode Interaktiv AS.
Try out Maken in the Online Library: https://www.nb.no/maken/
