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BiblioTech (Bexar County)
BiblioTech is the first all-digital public library in the United States. It serves residents of Bexar County, Texas. There are four BiblioTech branches and one satellite branch. History The first BiblioTech location opened on September 14, 2013. The County-operated library cost $2.3 million (USD) and is located in the underserved south side of San Antonio. San Antonio is the second largest city in Texas and the seventh largest city in the U.S., but ranks 60th in literacy. The library had over 400,000 visitors in its first four years. BiblioTech's second branch, BiblioTech West, opened in July 2015 on the west side of San Antonio; it also serves the residents of Bexar County. A third branch, on the city's east side, opened in April 2018. Their fourth branch, The Nelson and Tracy Wolff BiblioTech EDU, opened in December 2022 near downtown San Antonio and serves both residents of Bexar County as well as students on the shared campus of Fox Tech, Cast Tech and ALA. Offerings The li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Library
A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries: # they are generally supported by taxes (usually local, though any level of government can and may contribute); # they are governed by a board to serve the public interest; # they are open to all, and every community member can access the collection; # they are entirely voluntary, no one is ever forced to use the services provided; and # they provide library and information services without charge. Public libraries exist in many countries across the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. Public libraries are distinct from research library, research libraries, school library, school libraries, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appropriate Technology
Appropriate technology is a movement (and its manifestations) encompassing technology, technological choice and application that is small-scale, affordable by its users, labor-intensive, efficient energy use, energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable, and localism (politics), locally autonomous. It was originally articulated as intermediate technology by the economist E. F. Schumacher, Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher in his work ''Small Is Beautiful.'' Both Schumacher and many modern-day proponents of appropriate technology also emphasize the technology as People-centered development, people-centered. Appropriate technology has been used to address issues in a wide range of fields. Well-known examples of appropriate technology applications include: bike- and hand-powered water pumps (and other self-powered equipment), the bicycle, the universal nut sheller, self-contained solar lamps and Solar street light, streetlights, and passive solar building designs. Today appropriate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serendipity
Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. The term was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. The concept is often associated with scientific and technological breakthroughs, where accidental discoveries led to new insights or inventions. Many significant discoveries in history were serendipitous, including penicillin, Post-it notes, Popsicles, and the microwave oven, arising from unforeseen circumstances that were then recognized and capitalized upon. Definition Christian Busch views serendipity as "active luck", where chance encounters and human action come together. A missed flight or a casual walk in the park can lead to new friendships, interests, or even career opportunities. While serendipity in popular usage is often understood as a matter of pure chance, scientific discussions emphasize the crucial role of human agency—recognizing, interpreting, and acting upon unexpected opportunities. This interaction between chance and conscious action has been a key theme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Books
A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mostly of writing and images. Modern books are typically composed of many pages Bookbinding, bound together and protected by a Book cover, cover, what is known as the ''codex'' format; older formats include the scroll and the Clay tablet, tablet. As a conceptual object, a ''book'' often refers to a written work of substantial length by one or more authors, which may also be distributed digitally as an electronic book (ebook). These kinds of works can be broadly Library classification, classified into fiction (containing invented content, often narratives) and non-fiction (containing content intended as factual truth). But a physical book may not contain a written work: for example, it may contain ''only'' drawings, engravings, photographs, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bookcase
A bookcase, or bookshelf, is a piece of furniture with horizontal shelf (storage), shelves, often in a cabinetry, cabinet, used to store books or other printed materials. Bookcases are used in private homes, public and university libraries, offices, schools, and bookstores. Bookcases range from small, low models the height of a table to high models reaching up to ceiling height. Shelves may be fixed or adjustable to different positions in the case. In rooms entirely devoted to the storage of books, such as libraries, they may be permanently fixed to the walls and/or floor. A bookcase may be fitted with glass doors that can be closed to protect the books from dust or moisture. Bookcase doors are almost always glazed with glass, so as to allow the spines of the books to be read. Especially valuable rare books may be kept in locked cases with wooden or glazed doors. A small bookshelf may also stand on some other piece of furniture, such as a desk or Chest (furniture), chest. Larger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Jacoby (columnist)
Jeffrey Jacoby (born February 10, 1959) is an American conservative journalist and syndicated newspaper columnist. Early life and education Born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, to a Jewish family, Jacoby received a B.A. degree with honors from The George Washington University and a J.D. degree from the Boston University School of Law. His father, a Holocaust survivor, was born in present-day Slovakia in 1925 and came to the United States in 1948. Career Before becoming a columnist, Jacoby worked briefly as an attorney with the firm BakerHostetler and as deputy manager of Raymond Shamie's senatorial campaign in 1984. Following Shamie's loss, Jacoby worked for 15 months as an assistant to John Silber, then-president of Boston University. Jacoby is a member of the Ford Hall Forum board, the nation's oldest free public lecture series. Journalism Jacoby's column has been published on the op-ed page of ''The Boston Globe'' since 1994. From 1987 to 1994, he was chief editorial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Library
A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital resources that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital documents, or other digital media formats or a library accessible through the internet. Objects can consist of digitization, digitized content like Printing, print or photography, photographs, as well as born-digital, originally produced digital content like word processor files or social media posts. In addition to storing content, digital libraries provide means for organizing, searching, and information retrieval, retrieving the content contained in the collection. Digital libraries can vary immensely in size and scope, and can be maintained by individuals or organizations. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. These information retrieval systems are able to exchange information with each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TexShare
{{No footnotes , date=April 2024 The TexShare program is a statewide resource-sharing consortium of hundreds of member libraries in Texas, United States administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC). The TexShare program maximizes the effectiveness of library expenditures by enabling member libraries to share staff expertise, share materials electronic and print formats, pursue joint purchasing agreements on electronic databases, and encourage the cooperative development of Texas libraries statewide. TexShare is made up of Texas academic libraries, public libraries, and libraries of clinical medicine. TexShare is a member driven consortium that exists with the support and cooperation of Texas member libraries. History The idea of a statewide resource sharing project in Texas was first proposed by Texas academic library directors in 1988. The original group of TexShare members consisted of 53 publicly supported four year academic and medical libraries, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sapling Foundation
The Sapling Foundation is a non-profit organization that owned the TED global conference, from 1996 to June 2019. It was founded by Chris Anderson in 1996. Overview The organization describes its purpose as follows: In 2015, Anderson served as president, without compensation, and Thomas Valentino served as CFO and Secretary. The Sapling Foundation's 2015 revenue was about $66 million, of which about $23 million was contributions and about $42 million was TED conference revenue. On July 1, 2019, the TED Conferences LLC was transferred from Sapling Foundation to TED Foundation to "align with our brand and make it easier for our donors to connect TED donations to TED Conferences, LLC." References 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations TED (conference) Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States Non-profit organizations based in New York (state) 1996 establishments in New York (state) {{non-profit-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ProQuest
ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, providing access to dissertations, theses, ebooks, newspapers, periodicals, historical collections, governmental archives, cultural archives,"Jisc and ProQuest Enable Access to Essential Digital Content" , retrieved May 21, 2014 and other aggregated databases. This content was estimated to be around 125 billion digital pages. The company began operations as a producer of microfilm products, subsequently shifting to electronic publishing, and later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
