Library Stuff

“Two a.m. might be prime study time for college students, but it’s not always the most coveted shift for library employees. So some universities are testing a new way to give students the tools they need, like laptops or tablets, without adding to employees’ hours: laptop lending kiosks. The kiosks work like vending machines, or like the DVD lending dispensers at grocery stores. A student who wants to check out a laptop – or whatever device the university is offering – navigates a touch screen that authenticates the student’s identity and then dispenses a charged machine. The laptop can be used for a certain number of hours, as determined by each university, and once it is returned its battery is charged while it waits for the next user.”

via Inside Higher Ed

“A Toronto bookstore has come up with a creative way to add value to old, discount books that otherwise may clutter its storage: an antique-seeming “book dispenser” that randomly spits out old books for $2 a pop. The Biblio-Mat combines the charm of a gumball machine with the surprise element of a raffle. The machine jumps to life once money’s inserted. With a bit of overt drama–cranking and whirring and ringing that invoke old machinery–the dispenser then releases a used title from its stock, dropping it into a slot for a happy reader to walk away with.”

via Co.Exist

Earlier this year, Stephen Fowler, owner of The Monkey’s Paw used-book store in Toronto, had an idea. He wanted a creative way to offload his more ill-favored books — “old and unusual” all, as the store’s motto goes — that went further than a $1 bin by the register. It came in a conversation with his wife: a vending machine. “Originally, I thought maybe we would just have a refrigerator box and paint it to look like a vending machine,” he tells NPR, “and put a skinny assistant of mine inside and have him drop books out when people put a coin in.”

via NPR

“The Contra Costa County Library’s book-dispensing machine at the del Norte BART station in El Cerrito was a hit when introduced three years ago, but usage of the Library-a-Go-Go system has fallen sharply with the rise of eBooks.”

via El Cerrito, CA Patch