>>bayind+(OP)
Reminds me of "Rainbow's End" by Vinge. There's a machine that's like a giant worm, which slithers down the stacks in a library, vacuuming up all the books. They pass through shredders, and then the shredded remains fly down the body of the worm, which is studded with cameras. The cameras photograph the pieces and then software reconstructs the content of the books based on unique shapes of the shreds, like solving a million simultaneous jigsaw puzzles. The paper is excreted and recycled or burned.