Up, Up, and Away: “Google-Backed Drones Will Drop Library Books So Kids in Virginia Can Do Their Summer Reading”

Kelly Passek has thought up a way to get kids to read this summer: deliver library books by drone.

Passek, a middle-school librarian, was one of the first customers of a drone delivery service launched in Christiansburg, Va., last year by Wing, a company owned by Google parent Alphabet. After seeing how quickly her household goods and meals were delivered, she petitioned the company to take on library books, too. The company said yes, and the first books fly out this week.

[Clip]

Students aren’t able to visit school libraries during the summer months anyway, but the pandemic has made it especially hard for many families to keep getting free reading material until public libraries reopen. Wing’s library book delivery service is available to any of the roughly 600 students in the district who live in the delivery area. They won’t have to return the books until school starts up again in the fall, Passek said.

Read the Complete Article (approx. 730 words)

From 2019: California: “Meet BookBot: Mountain View Library’s Newest Robot Helper”
Note: This pilot project is no longer operational but still might be of interest.