Bexar Biblio Tech
Is Bexar Biblio Tech the next “Wave of the Future?”
I kind of hope so.
The first blush and tickle of media coverage, I jumped on and tried to sign up. My old San Antonio Public Library card expired, not from disuse, as I use the library as a reference point, I just never had it on me when I was there, besides, I never checked out any books. I’d read them and put them back on the shelf.
When I wandered into Bexar Biblio Tech itself, I was struck with how much it looked like the art on the site. To me, the original artwork smacked of a certain design — generic “go to meeting” look. The website shows a long line of Macs, and the place itself is a long line of Macs, all yoked to the internets. Looks kind of like the London Apple store, probably the largest Apple-branded store I’ve been in so far.
Cool vibe–but only the first or second day the new all-digital library has been open.
I was just in an Apple store, so the feeling was there, the similar sentiment. I think the equipment on display was newer in the library — certainly felt that way.
My excitement has waned a bit as the library has very limited digital offerings thus far. I was hoping for a few more items.
The other purpose to my visit was to see what it would take to get my books in their library, my ebooks — my digital goods on their digital shelves. I’m all for it. Two of my influential authors, books I grew up with, two of those guys were big on libraries, RAH and Ray Bradbury. Big supporters and big fans. With the digital age upon us, as more and more SF authors predicted, the sum total of the world’s libraries are almost at our fingertips. Almost.
Previously, I’d been in an Apple store. Across the street, there’s a man who runs an embroidery business. Think: “Fishing” shirts with “astrofish.net” and “Fishing Guide to the Stars” stitched on as a way to set me apart.
The man who ran the store uses a dated computer program to run up two-dozen machines with various spools of colorful thread inking designs and names on cloth. He sat with me, spelled everything out correctly, printed a page, handed it tome, then saved the design on a floppy disk.
I tossed my last software on floppies — 5 or 7 years back.
I understand enough of systems and processes to grasp that his machines, the sewing equipment, is dependent on the floppies as the central storage system. Slaved to machines, it’s an infallible system for his business. Me? I haven’t used floppies in more than a dozen years.
It was an Apple iMac — fruity colors — that first offered CD but no floppy. Which is a funny moniker, think about it, “floppies” were originally soft-sided, plastic envelope, magnetic media, 5 and 1/4 inches. Apple made the three-inch, hard plastic shell popular. I don’t think even the wal-marts sells those anymore.
I’m still learning to navigate the digital, virtual reality stacks. However, Bexar Biblio shows great promise.
