The British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, providing academic, business and scientific communities with access to the world’s most comprehensive research collection of over 170 million items, which includes artefacts from every age of written civilisation. They keep the nation’s archive of printed and digital publications, adding around three million new items every year. They have many books, but so much more. At their London and Yorkshire sites, they have everything from newspapers to sound recordings, patents, prints and drawings, maps and manuscripts. Public exhibitions interpret the Library’s collections to inspire and surprise audiences of all ages.

Working with UK legal deposit libraries, the British Library is actively building knowledge and capability to collect, curate and preserve “emerging formats”, including eBook mobile apps and web-based interactive narratives. These are digital publications that are in scope to collect under UK Non-Print Legal Deposit Regulations, but whose content and structure are more challenging compared to those currently collected.

In 2023 the British Library’s Digital Storytelling exhibition (2 June 2023 – 15 October 2023) explores the ways technology transforms and enhances our narrative experiences, from the widely popular audio fiction running app, Zombies, Run!, to award winning interactive adventure, 80 Days, to experimental electronic literature. This hands-on exhibition invites readers to become a part of the story themselves, through interactive works that invite and respond to user input, reading experiences influenced by data feeds, and works that draw from multiple platforms and audience participation to create immersive story worlds.