Oltre le pagine.

A Digital Library and Virtual Exhibition for the Promotion of Pop-Up Books

Abstract

This contribution presents Oltre le pagine, a project combining a digital library and a virtual exhibition dedicated to pop-up and movable books. Three-dimensional books represent a distinctive editorial form in which narration unfolds through movement, space, and surprise. However, the material fragility and mechanical complexity of these objects make sustained access difficult in traditional library and museum settings.

The project addresses this issue by experimenting with the integration of cataloguing practices, multimedia resources, and online exhibition environments. The digital library, developed in Omeka Classic, organizes a curated selection of pop-up books through descriptive records enriched with links to demonstration videos, audiovisual documents, and related artistic resources. The structure is articulated into two main collections: one devoted to works for adult audiences, in which animated books engage with cinema, authorial illustration, and cultural memory; the other focused on children’s books, centred on carousel books, paper theatres, and contemporary three-dimensional projects.

Building on the cataloguing structure, the project develops a virtual exhibition on the Artsteps platform, transforming the collections into navigable exhibition rooms. The transition from the bibliographic record to three-dimensional space makes it possible to render the performative dimension of the pop-up book perceptible, proposing an alternative mode of access and cultural valorisation.

The case study shows how digital curation tools and virtual environments can support digital libraries in documenting and disseminating interactive books, opening new perspectives for preservation, cultural mediation, and public access to complex book objects.