Florida Polytechnic Bookless - The library of the newest college in the Florida State University system reportedly just opened on Monday along with the first day of class. The facility which impressively features striking architecture designs and cozy reading nooks was made available to students, however, not a single actual book is in sight.
The Florida Polytechnic bookless program or a completely digital library is reportedly a part of the futuristic features of the school's extraordinary dome-shaped building, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
The primary building, which is the Innovation, Science and Technology facility, is where the classes of majority of the 500 new students in the Florida Polytechnic bookless school will be held. On its second floor is where the Commons - an area where its library services are included - is found, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Libraries and Internet connections to all standard electronic resources of a university library are available in the Commons of the Florida Polytechnic bookless facility. Students are provided with access to a digital catalog that launched with 135,000 e-books, but neither paperbacks nor hardbound books are available as study resources, unless of course, a student would bring hos or her own traditional books to school.
It is also said that Florida State might render all of its old-fashioned books available to students via interlibrary loan (like most university systems) allowing them access to 6 million volumes from libraries at Florida's 11 other public universities, Reuters has learned.
The goal of the new Florida Polytechnic bookless library is to stay clear of paper, and although printers for articles obtained online are available, the use of the machines are discouraged. Rather, the staff encourages student to organize their research online using library service tools.
The Florida Polytechnic bookless facility also owns a couple collections of printed books, however, they are not currently available in the school grounds. Students can also purchase traditional textbooks in the bookstore, or digital text once available.
"As for the electronic-only aspect of the library resources," trade magazine Library Journal wrote of Florida Polytechnic's bookless library program , " [Director of Libraries Kathryn] Miller emphasized that it's the information that's key, not its form."
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