By Literature-loving students busy with schedules can now get a reading respite from a short story dispenser on the first floor of the University Library.
Made by French publishing house Short Édition, the library acquired the mechanical kiosk this July.
“I saw it on LinkedIn; another University had one in their library, I think it was in Michigan, and that gave me the idea to do one here,” Library Dean Elizabeth Dill said.
“That was the first one I saw, and I thought, what a great way to do outreach for our library and our university community,” she said.
After learning about the kiosk, Dill contacted Long Beach State’s library HR and Finance Administrator, Noah Kelly. From there, Kelly contacted Short Édition and CSULB, which vetted the purchase as part of its standard campus procurement process.
Long Beach State is one of the first university libraries to partner with the company.
“They’re primarily in the public and school library area, but they’re breaking into and branching out into academic libraries,” Kelly said.
Located to the left of the main entrance, the kiosk resembles a Star Wars-like droid with an orange color scheme and translucent panels.
The machines are easy to operate and feature three buttons that dispense one-minute, three-minute and five-minute stories.
A one-minute short story being printed out of the Short Édition Kiosk now available at the University Library. Library employee Noah Kelly said the French company allows libraries to customize the machines’ look for an extra cost. Photo Credit: Delfino Camacho
The stories are written by real people who submitted their works to Short Édition’s two community publishing platforms: their quarterly review, Short Circuit and their past published works dubbed The Current.
Shorter stories are read like poems, while longer options have a more traditional structure. One-minute stories produce a roughly 9-inch scroll, while five-minute stories can resemble receipts that extend over three feet.
With monthly fees, Short Édition also provides the recyclable-thermal paper stories are printed on, removing the need for ink cartridges and keeping the process eco-friendly.
The kiosk has access to an online admin portal, allowing Kelly and Dill to monitor usage.
Since its July launch, the kiosk has printed 1,141 stories.
Besides monitoring statistics, the online portal allows control over what stories are offered, with optional additions such as unique stories, different languages and comics.
“With the dashboard…we can change the stories so that we can make a seasonal collection, we can make a poetry collection, we can make a student collection,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the five-minute story option may be phased out to offer more options to their more popular one—and three-minute stories.
Kelly said the library will host a spooky story contest in October. Participating students will be asked if they would like their stories included in the kiosk.
Kelly said the library will host a spooky story contest in October. Participating students will be asked if they would like their stories included in the kiosk.
Library Dean Elizabeth Dill poses with one hand on a Short Édition Kiosk button and the other grasping short stories printed on the first floor of the University Library. Other projects include a specialty desk built for student-parents and soon-to-come book vending machines that will feature Book-tok selections. Photo Credit: Delfino Camacho
Dill said the kiosk is part of her continued mission to increase student engagement. She wants students who do not frequent the library to feel welcome.
“There’s data that says that students who come to the library do better in their classes, persist and retained at a higher level than those that don’t,” Dill said. “If we can help in the mission of educating students, then that’s a great thing.”
The kiosk was enough to lure Tiffany Swenke and Anthony Rico, students in Fine Arts Drawing and Paintings. Swenke told Rico they had to check it out.
“As an artist, I love to read stories just to expand my mind,” Swenke said.
Rico, who recently lost his two grandfathers, shared that his one-minute story unexpectedly spoke to him. Titled Flipside and written by Hannah Rousselot, it deals with sorrow.
“Come grab a story, come do it,” Rico said. “It’s fun, it’s like a fortune cookie, it might be something you need.”
