This past week the Twittersphere has been bombarded with the 'earth-shattering' news out of Texas that a library in Bexar County will open the
first 100% digital public library in the United States. That is to say, there
will be absolutely no books available – in physical form. Instead, patrons will
be able to access a large collection of e-books and databases from the rows
upon rows of Mac computers. Essentially, the library (dubbed “BiblioTech”….how
exotic!) will be an Apple Store with a reference desk instead of a Genius Bar.
Many academic institutions having been establishing bookless libraries over the
past few years but public libraries often have issues with funding and budgets,
which prevents plans from going forward. Bexar County, however, is determined
to make this idea come to fruition. Interestingly, a judge from Bexar County is
at the helm of this revolutionary plan and claims the idea came from Steve
Jobs’ biography. From the preliminary design the new library looks like a
souped up Internet café or a very expensive computer lab.
Since the introduction of e-books a number of years ago, the
question on many library professionals’ minds have been whether the written
word will become obsolete. Countless articles have been written and opinions
voiced on the subject and it appears as though Bexar County has made a pointed
step in that direction. The only question is, will this step stick?
It’s hard to say what my take on this innovative plan is.
I’m all for progress – but only where progress has a point. If their point was to go for the glitz and glam innovative factor they certainly have that well in hand. The library's golden rule of improving accessibility has also been met with flying colours. But what about literacy? There is no
guarantee that simply improving the technology of your library system will
improve the literacy of the community. It could be argued that giving
exclusive access to online or electronic material will be, in fact,
detrimental. Do the members of this planning committee honestly think that
patrons will be using the computers to read books online? Since the majority of
students Google their research anyway, my guess is that many of the patrons
will be using the computers to update their Facebook status and check on their
Farmville crops. I write this not out of spite, but from experience. After all,
those who will be doing serious research will likely be accessing materials on their own computer and those looking to sit down with a good e-book will do so with a
tablet in the comfort of their own home – not in a crowded computer lab.
BiblioTech is set to open Fall 2013. Let’s see what happens.
