14 DAY TRIAL // If you thought libraries were going to become history, as more and more people abandon traditional reading and turn to electronic devices to absorb information and news, you couldn't have been more wrong.
Today’s libraries, like many institutions, are transforming and that means they have started incorporating technology as a way to adapt to the evolution of information flow. It’s not uncommon to see PCs in library halls, used for searching book catalogs or browsing digital journal collections.
But in one special part of the world, old school physicals books have been completely replaced by their digital counterparts. This is the BiblioTech of San Antonio, Texas the only bookless library in America, CNET reports.
The library is the project of Bexar County Judge, Nelson Wolff who is also a passionate collector of rare, first-print book editions. The whole project is worth $2.4 / €2 million, but it appears the digital adobe is cheaper to maintain than regular libraries, since old-school activities like book processing have become obsolete here.
So what will users be able to do at the tech library? For example, they will be allowed to borrow eReaders, download eBooks from home, and even take technology courses at the library’s headquarters. Basically, the project aims to educate the public in terms of today’s technology, allowing people to utilize modern equipment such as eReaders within the comfort of their own home.
What’s even more exciting is that children aren't excluded from the project. The library houses a special space/room where kids can play, read or learn on tablets.
The only problem is that not a lot of titles are available at this moment, because publishers are pricing their eBook offerings too high. Plus, the concept is so new it will take some time until people get accustomed to the idea of walking into a library filled with computer monitors and tablets instead of good old dusty books.
Wolff expects to see about 100,000 visitors go through the doors of the digital knowledge adobe in the first year.