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Minneapolis prepares for high-tech, self-service library

April 26, 2006

Christian Science Monitor: Patrons of a Minneapolis library will soon check out their own books at electronic kiosks. Visitors will be able to download iTunes and eventually movies. Teens will have their own hip reading lounge where they can bring drinks and snacks and write poetry on the walls. And the librarians won't be sitting behind desks, stamping book cards. They'll be walking around among the stacks, talking on wireless devices dubbed "Star Trek badges."

When the new central library in Minneapolis opens next month, it will provide a glimpse of what the library of tomorrow will look like - and a test of whether buildings traditionally devoted to books can survive in the age of the Internet. By most accounts, the downtown facility will be one of the most innovative in the nation, combining several emerging trends in library redesign under one roof.

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