The nation’s first completely paperless public library will open this September in San Antonio, Texas.

Known as BiblioTech, the project will open its first branch on the city’s south side, where many low-income families live.

The bookless library will have 100 e-readers for people to borrow in order to read any of the 10,000 digital titles that will be available. Residents also will have access to dozens of computers to browse, study, and learn digital skills.

One of the inspirations for the Bexar paperless public library was the bookless engineering school library at the University of Texas San Antonio, which has been open for three years.

BiblioTech does not represent the first attempt at a digital public library in the U.S. Newport Beach, California, and Tucson, Arizona, tried going with bookless libraries, only to revert back to real books (while keeping their digital collections).

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Paperless Public Libraries Switch to Digital (by Bill Hicks, BBC News)

Bexar Set to Turn the Page on Idea of Books in Libraries (by John Gonzalez, San Antonio Express-News)