Cool idea and exciting to see Penn State University Libraries making it happen. We would not be the least bit surprised to see other universities/university libraries following the PSU lead.
From Penn State University:
A Short Story Dispenser (via Penn St. University)
Penn State has become the first educational institution in the world, and the second location in North or South America, to partner with Short Edition of Grenoble, France. The innovative agreement developed by the Penn State University Libraries will deliver short, original pieces of Penn State creative writing into the public’s hands, encouraging direct community engagement with and conversation about writing by Penn State faculty, staff and students.”
Penn State University Libraries’ agreement with Short Edition has enabled the development of a custom website. Soon, Penn State authors of short pieces of creative writing — faculty, staff and students at all campuses — will be able to upload their short-length content for delivery through the Libraries’ short story dispensers. Readers then can visit the site to offer a response, encouraging community engagement and conversation about writing.
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Short Edition’s short story dispenser prints text based on length of reading time — one minute, three minutes or five minutes. The reader presses a button based on the desired read-time length and receives a narrow printout similar to a shopping receipt.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
