(16 October 2017) This past August, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) Library launched Asia’s first story dispenser. This dispenser is the creation of Short Edition, a publishing startup based in the city of Grenoble, France. The appeal of this cultural innovation is hard to dispute, with hundreds of articles about it being penned since its debut in 2014. You can read more about the story behind the dispenser from this New Yorker article written back in January 2016.
Until recently, France was the only place that you could find one of these distinctive orange-and-black machines. It then started appearing in a few places in the United States, including famed director Francis Ford Coppola’s cafe in San Francisco and Pennsylvania State University Libraries. HKBU Library is excited to be the first location in Asia to host a Short Edition dispenser!
It’s incredibly easy to get a dose of literary goodness. Library patrons need simply to choose the length of their desired read (1 minute, 3 minutes, or 5 minutes) and press the corresponding button. Voilà! The story is printed out instantly.
Read the full story by Maggie Wong and Chris Chan, librarians at the Hong Kong Baptist University Library.
