Repost: The U.S's First Bookless Library!!

What is this blasphemy???????

Source

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.

My thoughts: This is WEIRD! I always thought it would happen, but now it's reality.  To me, a library is where you can share books, literacy, and learning.  I guess the format really isn't important,  but this is so strange! I love my hardbacks, but even I have an e-reader.

If this works in such a way, that multiple people can read the same book, I'll give this idea a thumbs up.  The way libraries have sharing through OverDrive is aggravating because only one person can check out a title at a time, and there can be an infinite number of people on the hold list.  Ok, around 60 people on hold seems endless to me.


What do you think of this?  Do you like e-readers? What does a library mean to you?