Nation's First Bookless Library Set To Open

[RetroGamer1971]

Source: http://news.discovery.com/

Although this sounds like a tale from Ye Olden Days that children of the future will hear from grandpa’s knee, there’s no need to wait for the future, kids — the storytelling is about the begin.

That’s because the nation’s first public book-free library is set to open this fall in San Antonio, Texas. Serving residents of Bexar County, the new bookless library, called BiblioTech, will lend out e-readers for two weeks at a time.

“If you want to get an idea what it looks like, go into an Apple store,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff told the San Antonio Express.

Inspired by Apple founder Steve Jobs’ biography, Wolff said he imagines several book-free libraries around the country and into the suburbs. BiblioTech will occupy a prototype location on San Antonio’s south side.

“It’s not a replacement for the (city) library system, it’s an enhancement,” said Wolff. “People are always going to want books, but we won’t be doing that in ours.”

Read more: http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/nations-first-bookless-library-130114.htm#mkcpgn=tws

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What do you think? My wife is an librarian, and is on the fence. Is this the future of today, or is it too soon to transition to a totally electronic branch? What do you use your local library for?

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. awwwww.

I like books...real ones.

[llmart]

2. I can't imagine my life without books.....

real books with their wonderful smell and feel and everything else. I don't want to be around when libraries no longer carry real books. Yes, I understand that e-readers are popular and libraries are having to purchase databases of downloadable books, but I think it will be a long time before books in libraries are abolished altogether.

I've worked in libraries and remember when DVD's came out. Many of our older patrons were truly upset that we did away with VCR tapes because they couldn't afford to go out and buy a DVD player and didn't want to learn how to work something new. It took about a decade before our library decided to do away with the tapes. In spite of I-pods, most libraries still carry a CD collection because most people don't have I-pods even now that the prices have come down.

[brooklynite]

12. You must have been sad when they got rid of dial phones...

...and that lovely old-fashioned clicking sound...personally, I look for function over form.

[llmart]

16. Then I guess the other cultural arts don't mean much to you either.....

Who needs the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum of Art when you can just look up the picture on the Internet?

Who needs to see and hear a live symphony performance when you can just download it on your I-pod?

[brooklynite]

18. If there was only "one" of each book, I might take your analogy...

...but ever since that modernistic printing press put the benedictine scribes out of business, it's been the words rather than the printing that were important.

[llmart]

19. You said you prefer function over form...

so my analogy is appropriate. I don't always prefer function over form. That's where we differ. Sometimes "form" adds to the enjoyment of something.

[pnwmom]

25. You can't flip the pages of an ebook. That's a function performed better by a real book.

And real books don't have batteries that die, and real books can't have their pages disappear because the provider has decided to remove them.

[brooklynite]

27. You apparently don't have an iPad

The "page flip" function is part of the patented design.

[MotorCityMan]

26. Been a heavy reader since I first learned how, and I love real books, BUT....

My parents gave me a Kindle for Christmas two Christmas' ago and I love it. The backlight on it means can read in room with low/no lights, and you can increase the font! My 48 year old eyes appreciate that alot.

I am also able to borrow ebooks from my local library online. I was thrilled to find out about that.

I will always love the traditional library. SO much of my childhood was spent in there, and I still love to go and just search for something new to read. As much as I enjoy traditional books, though, an ebook reader is very nice. I was reading the Game of Throne books, actual books, and the small print was a constant aggravation. When I read book 5, I think that one will be on the Kindle.

[shraby]

3. Scanning the stacks with my eyes lets me know what the library has at a long glance,

and if I see anything I like, I can read the blurb on the cover and see what the book is about before I even open it.
A hard copy can't be beat!

[csziggy]

10. Some of the best books I've read were found while looking

For other books. I love wandering through the stacks and happening on books on subjects I would not have thought of looking for.

So far I absolutely HATE the way that selection is made for ebooks.

Our public library has loans of ebooks and trying to find what I want in their collection online is a nightmare. Even when I KNEW they had a particular book, I could not find it, either by author or subject. It turned out that they dumbed down the subject headings. No "forensic pathology" just "science". I had to wade through 20 webpages of general science listings to find one book.

This is a library in a town with the oldest library science school (excuse, now it's "information science&quot in the state and that is the best they can do for cataloging their ebook collection? Life is far too short to spend my time reading their uncatalogued list of books. I'd rather be reading an actual book.

[struggle4progress]

29. +

[plethoro]

5. Progressively more glad that I am old.....nft

dddd

[OKNancy]

6. Hi, LBN host here

In the future it is best to post the original news article ( from the San Antonio paper) and not a first person commentary about the news.
I'm not locking this, but since you are new, I thought I'd advise.

[Cha]

7. Thanks for the news, RG..

I use my library for books and a printer.

From the San Antonio paper..

Newport Beach, Calif., decided in 2011 to make its original library bookless, but withdrew the plans amid public outcry.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Bexar-set-to-turn-the-page-on-idea-of-books-in-4184940.php#ixzz2I03VFbpt

I can't imagine my library in this small Hawai'ian town wanting anything like a bookless library, either.

Good ol cutting edge, San Antonio, Texas!

[Duer 157099]

8. While I understand this, it is disturbing

Who will I donate all of my books to? I'm going mostly digital just because I don't have room for any more books, but I still love books and would like a place to go to borrow them when needed. I would think libraries should stick around as an indefinite repository of all the books even if most users end up going digital.

[graham4anything]

9. This only works if there are enough gadgets for each person with a library card

otherwise, how can people read them if they don't have a thing to read it on?

whereas, a library with thousands of books, there is always something for anyone who comes in to take out and read.

[llmart]

14. The library furnishes the downloads......

most public libraries don't have e-readers, at least not a multitude of them. It's similar to computers for public use. They couldn't possibly have a computer for every single library card holder.

The concept of public libraries is the best example I can think of of socialism. Everyone in the community votes whether to support a library with their tax dollars and then everyone in that community can borrow whatever the library has in their collection. I grew up in a poor family and my parents couldn't buy us books, so I was thrilled that I could go to my public library and get all these books or magazines or music or read the newspaper.

[graham4anything]

17. Yes, I know what the concept it, but not everyone can afford an e-reader or computer

and one can't read a book(or at least most people, some people do) in one sitting.

Our library has public computers and a few take home nooks, but the waiting list for the nook is forever, and then with thousands of choices, it makes it impossible unless everyone has access.

Libraries are great, but until everyone has a computer or some sort of downloadable IPad or nook it isn't fair not to have an actual book

(I myself don't like the glare when reading outside on a nook or e-reader.Even ones that attempt to block glare, doesn't always work. Hard on my everyday getting older and withholding getting glasses, eyes).

[llmart]

20. Oh, I understand completely.

I'm officially a senior also and have some macular degeneration in one eye already. We baby boomers are a very large contingent. I think e-readers are great for travel since it can be cumbersome (and expensive) to pack heavy books. However, for around my house I'll take a book any day!

[naaman fletcher]

11. I have't been to a library since grad school. nt.

[littlemissmartypants]

13. I am a book person. Books are gods to me.

But I can carry lots of them with me on my device du jour. I have e books on my phone, my laptop and a Kindle. I love the B'tech concept. I plan to donate all the books I have to my library when I am dead. Having the e books with a built in dictionary is an advantage, IMHO.

[llmart]

15. Not everyone in this country can afford a "device du jour".

I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, but sometimes even DU'ers forget that not everyone in this country has the wherewithal to purchase a Kindle or Nook or smartphone or laptop or the Internet connection.

Sorry, I just have a passion for books and public libraries and having been in public library administration I can tell you that the people who use them come in all flavors and from all walks of life and all sorts of backgrounds and there are still a majority of people who want books.

[littlemissmartypants]

24. I think you missed my point and have made some assumptions that seem harsh to me.

I would have a book tattooed on my body, encoded on my hair strands, printed on my fingernails... just to have something to read. Books to me make better friends than people. And money is spent as a matter of priority. It took me a year to save for my Kindle. I bought less food and drove fewer places and when I did have to drive... my trips were planned to maximize the efficient use of my gas, so my gas and my food money bought my "device du jour" once I had saved for it. I have free apps for the nook, pdf, kindle, google books and word on my phone which allow me to read books from it.

If calling books gods does not equal passion, gee pinch me.

At the age of eight I was molested in a public library. I fought hard to get over my fear of the library and spent every night for a year each day after working a full time job in a library researching my dissertation for which I was nationally recognized.

People get out of life what they put into it. If one wants something badly, one will find a way. And the more places we make knowledge accessible and available the better. No need to apologize to me. Teach others to read or volunteer to read to those who cannot.

My ability to make a way for myself and others to adore books as I do, does not preclude someone's ability to enjoy the public library, in what ever role.

There are many "public" libraries where they also need people to help with donations of time and money. The small public library in my town has cut hours and staff due to "the economy" which seems here to be a catchall for poor management. The next town over lost theirs altogether for the want of a trained librarian.

Having a library is a luxury, just like a device du jour. Just ask these kids:

Learn more about them and the story of their library here: Biblioburro: The Donkey Library

http://www.pbs.org/pov/biblioburro/#.UPTKfif_qOY



And please don't try to reign in a strong woman with a passion for reading or ever again apologize for your love of the library. Peace. LMSP

http://www.flickr.com/photos/povdocs/5593323710/




http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/library/literacy/functional-illiteracy-and-literacy-problems-america

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. "What do you use your local library for? "

I no longer check out books from the library because the 2 week time limit drives me nutz.
But I do donate my used books to the library
and I do buy books furing their book sale.

there are so many books available online from various sources don't need to pop up to the library anymore.

That being said, I think taking children to libraries at an early reading age is such an important thing to do for them.

[Hekate]

22. I check out e-books from my local library. We get paper books, CDs and DVDs as well.

Some of my best friends are Librarians!

[Iwillnevergiveup]

23. A trip to the library

is always a treat! I feel lucky because there are 2 great ones near me, and they quickly order new books, usually in multiple copies. Love the feel of a book in my hands, and bringing a couple along on trips is no problem - paperbacks! Just today got a fantastic (unpriced) book on French impressionists for $2.00 that I'll cherish forever. Worth at least $50.00 - whatta deal.

[AngryAmish]

28. What do I use the library for? To masturbate in public with the other hobos

Seriously, this is a good thing. Libraries need to change. Having a huge warehouse of books selected for me by other people (librarians) does not seem attractive. It seems elitist and exclusionary.

[infidel dog]

30. I borrow books from my library, primarily.

I am a bibliophile and have zero interest in electronic facsimilies. I believe the book in physical form will be around long after these gadgets du jour have vanished. And, by the way, the public library has been one of the greatest forces of democratization in history. How an institution which brings the widest variety of information- within the limits of space and budget- to the broadest possible base can be considered "elitist" escapes me.