BiblioTech Is Bexar County's Bookless Library

Meet The Bookless Public Library

BiblioTech, opening this fall in San Antonio, will be the USA's first book-less library, according to reports.

ABC News says that Bexar County's Judge Nelson Wolff got the idea from reading Walter Isaacson's bestselling Steve Jobs biography.

"We all know the world is changing. I am an avid book reader. I read hardcover books, I have a collection of 1,000 first editions. Books are important to me," Wolff told ABC News. "But the world is changing and this is the best, most effective way to bring services to our community."

The 4,989-foot, Apple Store-like space will offer 50 ereaders for loan, as well as tablets and computers, plus ebook loans for existing ereader users.

"It will be a learning environment - you'll be able to learn about technology itself as well as access a tremendous amount of information," Wolff said.

Fast Company reports that the new library is intended to supplement, not replace, the existing print book libraries in the city.

Time magazine wrote an article about the phenomenon of the bookless library in 2011, saying that Drexel and Stanford Universities had already instituted bookless library spaces.

Though as Fast Company points out,

Two other attempts to create public bookless libraries--one in Newport Beach, California, and the other in Tucson, Arizona--ended with book-loving citizens getting their way: Plans for the Newport Beach bookless project were nixed altogether after a public outcry, and in Tucson, books were added to the shelves after a six-year dry spell.

What do you think? Would you visit a bookless library? Let us know in the comments!

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