Is Paperless libraries useful?

Libraries itself is not just to place to shelve books but also have a social value and importance for quiet controlled study. Most importantly, many have claimed that digital libraries can ghettoise the poorest sector of the demographic that may not have internet connection or a computer

Moreover, we live in a busy world where people have less windows of time, digital libraries can be open right into the evening rather than be restricted by certain hours. Biblio-Tech will offer books to 1.7 million persons just in the U.S. alone also hopes to work and partner with schools and run literacy digital courses. Therefore the e-learning massive hopes to become an ethical steward, hoping to deliver a service to readers, but also be involved in education progress and innovation.

World's first paperless public library in US Bexar County, Texas:

1st Paperless public Library of the World Biblio-Tech was opened in the USA State of Texas on 4th of February 2014. The traditional libraries have been replaced with High Tech gadgets which cater to both adults as well as for children. Residents of the Texas will be able to access over thousands of titles from e-readers for free of cost.

Accordingly, 1.5 million dollar Biblio-Tech presently has 600 e-readers, 200 pre-loaded enhanced e-readers for children and 48 computer stations, 10 laptops also 40 tablets to use on-site. Paperless technology will also help the people to manage funds. The team members are not tied up re-shelving, filing and categorising.

They spend most of their time providing one-to-one instruction with visitors, teaching people how to use devices moreover how to source materials. It is a more interactive library experience. Also replacement costs have been factored into the project. Easily thefts can be prevented as devices cannot access the internet once they leave from the library.

For the taxpayer, it is far more economical to build and maintain an e-library, Dr. Robert Schwarzwalder, an associate university librarian for the engineering and science department at Stanford University. Traditional libraries need much larger load tolerances in construction due to the weight of materials, so they are more costly to construct. Book collections also needed an environmental control which is costly to maintain.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff who instigated the scheme is an avid reader and a keen collector of 1st edition texts but told ABC News: ‘the world is changing and this is the best, most effective way to bring services to our community.'

Users check out e-readers rather than physical texts:

Instead of taking home books, registered residents of the south Texas county of Bexar which has never had a public library or a bookstore will be now able to access over tens of thousands of titles from e-readers for free of cost. It claims mission is to give the county's residents with ‘necessary tools to thrive as citizens of the 21st century' for the ‘rationale of enhancing education and literacy also promoting reading as recreation.'

Special project coordinator Laura Cole, at BiblioTech told the Metro: We really wanted to construct the best, most cost effective way of providing library services to a population that is globally distanced from existing services and a digital library was an obvious choice. ‘Geography does not matter if your library is in the cloud,' she said, referring to the "cloud" system where the library's books are stored online. Addressing anxiety that library users may be put-off by technology, she said: ‘The thing that motivates me most is that our staff can dedicate their time to helping visitors.'

Paperless Learning in Public Schools

Traditionally, the physical textbook has been the main learning resource for public grade schools and colleges across the United States (US). From kindergarten to graduation you are provided with a hard back book for every class you take which is not only heavy to carry around, it is the primary reason we kill so many trees every year.

With the era of technology many non-traditional colleges have wised up and are converting their learning formats to an online virtual study forum that no longer requires the toting of heavy, 900 page monster books required for learning. All reading material together with your textbook is posted in a downloadable format that is easy to access and does not require one shred of paper. You can literally hold around an entire library in a single laptop that is lightweight also convenient to access with the push of a power button and access to the Internet.