Beijing City Library's Metaverse Experience Hall combines virtual library environments and AI digital humans to help visitors explore collections and engage with reading. The library is one of Capital Library's three locations, and the hall's digital-human conversations have operated since the library opened in late 2023.
The project aims to make library services more interactive and encourage readers' interest in books and knowledge. Its five functional zones connect activities in the physical library with virtual experiences.
Virtual touring and reading
The public metaverse recreates spaces based on Beijing City Library. Visitors can explore it from a third-person perspective on a large screen, while smartphone access lets them create avatars, select clothing and accessories, and interact with other readers.
The four themed environments cover:
- The Children's Library.
- The Ancient Books and Documents Library.
- The Art Literature Library.
- The Intangible Cultural Heritage Literature Library, also described as the Local Literature Library.
Digital tours provide information about the spaces and upcoming activities. Xinhua's February 2025 report described a personal metaverse area in which readers could use supplied virtual objects to build a reading room, with creative director Fei Jun describing visual, auditory and tactile interaction through virtual reality. However, People's Daily's November 2025 report presented room building as a future capability and said the team was developing an online version of the metaverse library. That later report described virtual tours and avatar interaction as operating services.
Digital librarians
Visitors can speak with three digital humans: Lu Xun, Tutu and 2122. AI Lu Xun serves as a special librarian, guiding readers, recommending books from the collection and introducing Beijing's food and cultural attractions. Tutu and 2122 use childlike and futuristic styles respectively to discuss topics with readers through large language models.
Reported use
Xinhua reported in February 2025 that the hall had received more than 2 million visits since the library opened. Separate reporting states that readers had held more than 2 million voice conversations with its digital humans since late 2023. These figures describe visits to the hall and conversations with its characters, respectively.
