To be clear, by book-less I mean an absence of printed books, a completely digital library.

The unlikely visionary in San Antonio was Nelson Wolff, the top county official, who in Texas is known as the county judge.

“It all started with my reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs,” said Wolff, who is in his 70s and was taken with the speed of technology developed by the late co-founder of Apple Inc. as he introduced a succession of products.

So, within about a year, Wolff raised the radical idea of a no-books library in a poor part of San Antonio with limited Internet service, used available space in a county-owned building and had it operating by last September.

This is not the same as an internet cafe, a room filled with computers for general use. There actually is a library of eBooks for loan to library patrons.

“We’ve had a 100 percent return rate,” said Laura Jesse, Bexar County’s public information officer.

Downloaded e-books simply disappear from devices after two weeks, so there are no library late fees.

Heh. I wonder if they will add other media, such as newspapers, magazines, and music. That could be disruptive.

[Via CultOfMac]