NLB partners with Snap Inc and LePub to reignite Singapore’s love of reading

In December of last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) performed a study on the Singapore adult population and discovered that adult literacy rates were below the OECD average. This may come as a surprise given Singapore’s reputation for academic excellence, however, it is a trend that likely comes in tandem with a decreased love for reading among Singaporeans of all ages.

To reignite that fondness for reading, Singapore’s National Library Board (NLB) is partnering with the technology company, Snap Inc. and creative agency LePub Singapore. Utilising augmented reality (AR) glasses, Snap Spectacles, this collaboration aims to reimagine what reading can look and feel like.

AR technology works by layering digital content over the physical world. It’s a concept many are already familiar with through games like Pokémon Go, which places virtual creatures into real-world environments, allowing individuals to interact with them through their device. With this initiative, AR will be used to enrich the reading experience through immersive sound and visuals.

“Our goal is not to replace the traditional reading experience, but to enhance it by creating a compelling gateway to books,” explains Stephan Schwarz, Executive Creative Director at LePub Singapore. “These glasses are an invitation to rediscover the joy of deep, meaningful engagement with text. Once people are hooked on the story, we hope they’ll keep reading to the end.”

Through text recognition and machine learning, the Spectacles scanning the book that the user is reading to trigger ambient audio effects. This technology likely also applies the use of eye tracking to tailor immersive soundscapes in real time — for example, the individual may read about a character hearing a distant creak of a door opening, only to hear that same sound echoing in their ears. Music is also deployed to supplement the scene, adding suspense or wonder depending on the scene.

Beyond sound, the experience extends to visuals. Readers may encounter interactive visual artefacts projected into their space, allowing them to interact with the world of the story through their device.

“We are happy to partner LePub and Snap in this to explore ways to enhance the experience of stories and books for everyone,” said Chief Librarian & Chief Innovation Officer at the National Library Board, Gene Tan. “This is part of NLB’s ongoing efforts to engage with partners to experiment with new experiences that could inspire discovery and spark a renewed passion for reading and learning.”

The AR Spectacles are presently undergoing trial and will be available at a select library later this year.

Although not all reading is built the same — Merman Melville’s Moby Dick and Sally Rooney’s Normal People offer different, equally valid, types of reading experiences that serve different purposes — the fact remains that reading is a crucial exercise for the brain to improve people’s literacy skills: reading, speaking, and listening effectively to truly understand what is being expressed. While such skills have the obvious positives on anyone’s professional life, they are also instrumental on the personal level — to question what we read, understand complex ideas, and to recognise when we are being led by the nose.

Without these skills, it is easy to believe in misinformation, especially when it’s delivered with confidence — and in today’s world, there’s no shortage of that.