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Bibliotech Digital Public Library Sets up Shop in a Hospital

3906754718_e740368175_oWhen Bexar County opened its all-digital public library branch, Bibliotech, in 2014, it capitalized on the lack of space devoted to warehousing books by devoting more space to computer labs, public spaces, and so on.

Now it is finding a new benefit from a hefty investment in digital: the option of opening a new digital branch anywhere it can place a kiosk.

In addition to pocket branches in the county courthouse and in a new development,  Bibliotech has also started installing kiosks in bus stations, and now in a hospital.

The San Antonio Express-News reports that the county commissioners have signed off on a deal which would bring library kiosks to the local hospital:

Fresh from expanding into VIA Metro, Bexar County’s all-digital library system BiblioTech has entered a pact with the University Health System to deliver ebooks and other free reading material to hospital patients, families and employees.

Under the agreement approved Tuesday by Commissioners Court, the hospital system will provide facilities and volunteer staff for BiblioTech kiosks, the podium-size terminals where digital collections can be searched for download to personal mobile devices.

“Now we’re going into University Hospital with a kiosk in their main lobby, we hope to have it up in November, that’ll give them access to those 40,000 books,” Judge Nelson Wolff told KTSA News.

“Just since we’ve been in business, a little over two and half years, people have checked somewhere around 300,000 books from us,” he added. “So you can see how it greatly expands the reading opportunity, without a lot of brick and mortar, and how we can do it in such a cost effective way.”

Bibliotech has also partnered with nearby military bases and installed kiosks in and provided ereaders to the existing on-base libraries.

image by andres.moreno

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