Easy reading: It’s like an ATM for stories
October 30, 2024
A short-story dispenser at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library aims to build literacy and highlight the joy of reading at the push of a button.
by Michael J. Solender
Mere hours after Tony Tallent, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s associate director for library experiences, installed a new push-button short-story dispenser he observed the magical spell the slender steel-and-glass kiosk cast over patrons.
The “story ATM” was introduced last summer at the South County Regional Library. Developed and managed by the French global publishing house, Short Edition, the 3-foot tall machine provides short stories, poetry and fiction “on the fly” and free of charge.
The stories are dispensed at the touch of a button on a receipt-like piece of thermal paper about 2 inches wide and up to 18 inches long. No ink is used, as printing is performed by a heat-transfer process.
“One of our first users of the kiosk was a family from Austria that happened to be at the library that day,” Tallent recalls. “They had no idea what it was and had someone translating for them. They were thrilled when the story popped up. It was a joyous day.”
Stories are limited to 7,000 characters, roughly between 1,000 and 1,500 words. More than 300 story dispensers currently stand in airports, public transportation hubs, retail centers and other locations around the world. There are five kiosks across North Carolina, including the one in Charlotte.
The catalog includes more than 100,000 stories from genres like humor, magical realism, love and loss, young adult, nostalgia, romance, absurd, and modern love. Authors range from contest winners and emerging writers to renowned classical essayists such as Tennyson, Longfellow and L. Frank Baum. Stories are randomly dispensed, which adds to the surprise.
Marcellus “MT” Turner, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s CEO and chief librarian, became aware of the kiosks a few years ago when he held a similar role with the Seattle Public Library. After bringing a kiosk to Seattle, he saw it take off in popularity.
“People responded to having a story at their hands,” Turner says. “Before a program started in our big auditorium, we would put it at the front of the room and people would pick up a story and then they’d pass it around and share it with others. People would read them while they were waiting for a program. These are wonderful opportunities to get people reading.”
The kiosk was provided to the library system by the Principal Foundation as part of a financial-literacy program (the kiosk also dispenses “money chronicles” — fiction and creative nonfiction with a money theme). The nonprofit foundation supports communities where the Principal financial-services firm operates.
“Our goal is to have the kiosk travel throughout our library network,” Tallent says.
The kiosk was moved to SouthPark Regional Library last fall. Since its initial installation in August 2023, more than 2,000 stories have been dispensed.
Aspiring writers can submit unpublished tomes for consideration through Short Edition’s portal, accessed through a QR code displayed on the kiosk.
Turner says he’d love to add more dispensers, and hopes to have one at Imaginon with children’s story content, and at Charlotte Mecklenburg County’s main library when it reopens in 2026. “These are simply one more reason to visit the library.” SP
