Here’s a new one for the books: a Canadian recreation center now has a book kiosk for customers courtesy of the local public library.
No longer are kiosk machines strictly for withdrawing cash at an ATM or buying junk food from a vending machine. Kiosk machines have advanced so much that they can provide other products as well. In this case, books. In Ontario, Canada a local public library has placed a book kiosk in the Benson Center recreation center. Now, Cornwall Public Library members can access something to read while their child attends basketball practice.
According to the Whig Standard, “The high-tech book machine can be opened by scanning a valid library card, or library card barcode, found in the Cornwall Public Library mobile app. Each of the 150 books available at the kiosk are identified through radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, so the kiosk registers when a book is taken out and when it is returned — either to the kiosk itself or the library on Second Street.”
The town’s head librarian says that the book collection in the kiosk will be replaced every few months and will collect data in order to analyze which books are most read. Head Librarian Helen McCutcheon expects that more book kiosks will be placed throughout the community in the coming years.
Benefiting the Community
One of the reasons why the library installed the kiosk in the recreation center was to eliminate the hardships that some patrons faced in getting to the library itself. Placing the kiosk in a high-traffic community center allows for patrons of all ages and backgrounds to have easy access to books.
The kiosk cost the library about $35,000 and will have a $15,000 annual budget for maintenance.
