The New York Public Library recently announced the availability of Biblion, a new app for Apple’s iPad. Biblion, which takes its name from the Library’s old collections magazine, showcases items from the Library’s extensive research collections and gives unprecedented access to items that would otherwise not be readily available to the public.
The first edition of the app features 700 items from the library’s 1939-40 New York World’s Fair holdings. The collection is browsed through an “exhibition wall” which features six thematic groupings holding a variety of multimedia content and scholarly essays.
Biblion is a gorgeous app with a very slick design. One nice feature is the ability to view the content in book format – simply by turning your iPad to the vertical orientation. I found it a bit easier to navigate this way. While the exhibition format makes for interesting pathways into the collection, it would be nice to have a general search function for those wanting to search for a specific item.
Biblion is available for free from the itunes store.
