Bexar County Library Going Bookless, All Digital

If all goes as planned, Texas could be the home to the nation's first all digital library by the end of this summer. San Antonio's Bexar County will be the home of this book-less public library. The project, referred to as BiblioTech, was announced recently by the Bexar County Commissioners Court.

Plans for the 4,989 square-foot BiblioTech project include an Internet café-style reading room, computers, take-home eReaders, study areas, meeting rooms, and an initial 10,000 eBooks. BiblioTech is expected to cost $1.5 million to start.

BiblioTech will look like a modern library. The all digital library will have a children's area with interactive tables and interactive walls. The library is also considering adding additional media such as movies and music. Although many public libraries offer eBooks and some academic libraries such as the University of Texas at San Antonio have adopted bookless formats, no public library has been created with only eBooks.

A Barnes & Noble Nook was featured at the media event where BiblioTech was unveiled. However, it appears the Nook was featured as a prop and a decision has not been made as to which eReader device(s) to use with the project. The project will go through a public bidding process to purchase the eReaders.