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Digital Library

Picture a library without card catalogs, shelves, reading chairs, or …

books?

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Photo by Matl, CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What’s left to be called a “library”?

Denizens of the digital age will assure you that it’s all still there, only now it’s electronic.

(Of course, you’ll just have to imagine the academic ambience.)

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Photo by Dr. Marcus Gossler, GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The United States’ first futuristic facility of this kind recently opened to the public in Bexar County, Texas.

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Photo by Xataka, CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s called the BiblioTech library, and it boasts about 10,000 free e-books, as well as audio books and e-readers. You can use your own reader, too, if you have the 3M Cloud Library app, which can be linked to your library card.

Yup, even a digital library still uses cards.

Lest you wonder if this is all just a figment of a cyber-savvy librarian’s fancy, the BiblioTech

(a play on “bibliothèque,” the French word for library)

actually does have a physical location, complete with 48 computer stations and meeting spaces (there are tables and chairs!).

Plus, patrons can still bring their kids for a real, live story time and take computer classes to catch up with the rapidly changing times.

Are you ready for a “virtual library” in your neck of the woods?