Completely digital library opens, may be trend of future


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SALT LAKE CITY — Some are calling the newest public library system in Texas the library of the future.

More than 10,000 books are available at the new Bexar County public library in San Antonio. None comes in hardcover or paperback.

It's called the BiblioTech, and customers don't even have to enter. Books can be downloaded straight to computers, tablets or e-readers from home.

"We grew up, our kids too, going to the library once a week. It's just the library of today," said Julianne Hancock, who spearheads technology and innovation for the Salt Lake City Public Library.

Is the Texas facility the library of the future?

Hancock said well over 1,000 e-book titles are downloaded every month by library patrons, from the casual reader to the serious bookworm.

"I think the number for e-book usage will grow exponentially once we fix this transaction problem," she said.

That problem -- it takes patrons four or five steps to actually download an e-book. The City Library wants to make that a one-click process.


You'll always need a children's collection.

–Julianne Hancock, Salt Lake City Public Library


"That will help people be able to access e-books no matter what their technical aptitude is," Hancock said.

Does turning from paper to pixels foreshadow the end of opulent spaces like the City Library's Main Library? It cost $85 million to build. The price tag for the 4,000 square foot BiblioTech in San Antonio was just $2.4 million.

"Every public library has a mandate to respond to the specific needs of their communities," Hancock said.

The BiblioTech isn't the nation's first bookless public library. One opened in Tucson, Ariz., in 2002. It didn't last long.

"A couple of years ago it started offering physical materials because the community demanded it," Hancock explained.

Currently the City Library is set to start construction on two new large branches -- one in Glendale and the other in the Marmalade District just west of the Capitol. Both will have smaller collections of physical materials than the city's traditional branches. But books will still be a big part of the equation.

"Even if we increase digital access at those locations you'll always need a popular collection," Hancock said. "You'll always need a children's collection."

The children's collection is what keeps Chance Clouse and his 2-year-old boy coming back to the library.

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"It's definitely an easier way to carry it around," he said, "especially when you're carrying a bag full of toddler stuff."

But Clouse still likes having a tangible book in his hands that he can look through. His son apparently agrees.

"He'll go to his room and pick out a book. He'll come through here and catches one with his eye, and pulls it off the shelf and brings it to me," Clouse said.

Even the City Library's manager of innovation isn't ready to turn the page on the book.

"Just the smell of a book, just the way the pages feel," is valuable, Hancock said. "There's such a nostaligic feeling, to enjoy a book."

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