In 2002 arizona's tucson-pima public library system opened a branch without books, the first in the U.S. to attempt an all-digital existence. But just a few years later, the library phased in printed materials. Patrons demanded them. "I don't think people could really envision a library without any books in it," says Susan Husband, the Santa Rosa Branch manager. The bookless library may have been ahead of its time a decade ago. Back then, libraries still had one overriding mission: lending books. There were no Kindles, no Nooks, no iPads. The few e-books that existed weren't held by public libraries and made up just 0.05% of trade revenue, according to the Association of American Publishers. But with a quarter of Americans 16 and older now reading e-books, those behind San Antonio's new Bexar County Digital Library, touted as the nation's only all-digital public library, are convinced its time has come.
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