Keio University has engineered the prototype of an electronic bookshelf. Called BiblioRoll, the device consists of three LCD displays in a transparent tube and aims to help readers who need to browse through several books, pick up ideas which could be a cue from each of them, and reconstruct them to come to the answer they search for.
Users can rotate a circumference of the device to display see different information on each tier. They can, for example, choose a book’s cover from the top screen and display different part of its contents on the other two LCDs.
The developers aim to complete 15 cm high product by 2010, its flexible display will use electronic paper or organic EL. The current prototype is much larger.