Under the leadership of national unity minister Aaron Ago Dagang, PNM’s immersive learning centre, located in the main building, is engaging visitors with holo-walls, interactive information panels and curved LED screens.
PNM digital project management director Wan Azuan Shah Wan Mohamed said the national repository of knowledge wants to go beyond storing books and documents, and become a space for exploration, invention and innovation on par with international digital learning trends.
“We need to make big changes to attract the youth,” he told FMT.
Besides the immersive learning centre, PNM has also prepared a virtual reality space, e-sports zone, robotics zone, holographic space, metaverse room and “tree of knowledge”, all based on digital technology.
“All these interactive games are based on material available in PNM, presented in an interactive and animated form.
“PNM is also upholding unity with its interactive games, such as matching foods and clothing to cultures and many more,” Wan Azuan said.
The national library has also upgraded its u-Pustaka system, which gives users library access to a consortium of 12 libraries nationwide, catalogue search for 191 libraries and 24-hour access to digital reading material.
Library systems and network senior deputy director Kasuma Dewi Said said users have praised the u-Pustaka system for its ease and practicality.
“For example, if I am in Kuala Lumpur and want to borrow a book in Sabah, the library in Sabah will post the requested reading material directly to my house via Poslaju,” she said.
Kasuma said u-Pustaka offers 293,006 digital reading materials from 17 data centres, comprising books, magazines, journals, newspapers, audiobooks and e-learning materials,
She said the system so far has 1,086,604 members, with an average of 100,000 active members a year.
PNM also plays an important role as a keeper of cultural heritage, with thousands of old Jawi manuscripts stored and digitised within the National Malay Manuscript Centre (PKMM).
Since 1985, PNM has compiled over 5,300 original texts and nearly 5,000 digital texts, making it the most important repository of Malay manuscripts in the world.
PKMM senior deputy director Fatimah Abdul Hai said the most recent manuscripts include a book believed to contain the life of Mat Kilau, one of the warriors against British colonialism in Malaya.
“The manuscript has found its place in PNM after going through several stages and we welcome the public to come refer to it in depth,” she said.
As many as 10 Malay manuscripts in PNM have received international Memory of the World recognition, and 12 have been declared as national heritage objects under the National Heritage Act 2005.