Museum 2 You: Accessible Exploration Through Immersive and Experiential Library Kits

Abstract

The Museum 2 You project is a programming initiative for the City of Scottsdale and the Scottsdale Public Library (SPL). The project addresses accessibility issues encountered by patrons in the Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) community, as well as by those experiencing mobility challenges that may prevent them from attending the museum. The immersive kits produced for Museum 2 You bring museum collections directly to library patrons while increasing discoverability of the underutilized streaming resources. Created in partnership with Scottsdale McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park Museum (MSRRP) and Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West (WSM), these kits combine photogrammetry, AI-assisted design of 3D-printed tactile replicas, QR cubes linking to streaming content, scent boxes, and braille materials to create multisensory learning experiences. In this presentation, the development process for the pilot Museum 2 You program, from experience ideation and curation with community partners to formal addition to the Scottsdale Public Library’s catalog in January 2026, is documented. The kits highlight the capacity of emerging technologies to help cultural institutions become truly accessible community resources. The presentation puts forward a replicable framework for accessible immersive kit development and identifies key barriers and solutions for scaling this model across library and museum systems.