Snacks routinely come from vending machines at State High, but until recently, punching a button also brought food for thought.
For a month, students and faculty could obtain a free short story from a dispenser on loan from the Penn State Libraries, the latest town-gown partnership between the library systems.

A Penn State Abington student shows the story she printed from the Short Story Dispenser to Binh Le, reference and instruction librarian. (image Penn State)

ABINGTON, Pa. — The Penn State Abington Library was selected by the University Libraries to install a Short Story Dispenser that delivers original content from around the globe as well as literary pieces submitted by faculty, staff and students.

First installed at the University Park campus in 2017, short-story dispensers are now at many Commonwealth campuses and allow students to choose from one, three or five-minute stories. (Image Penn State)

MEDIA, Pa. — Captured in just a few words, they provide an escape. Choosing from one-, three- or five-minute stories, Penn State Brandywine students can read, interact and share their thoughts with the addition of a new short-story dispenser recently placed in the campus’ Vairo Library.

The short story dispensers located across campus are now seeking content submissions from local writers on top of Penn State students and faculty members.

Penn State launched the short story dispensers on campus and in Schlow Library earlier this year to become the first institution to collaborate with Short Edition of Grenoble, France.
The dispensers allow you to choose a short story that takes anywhere between one and five minutes to read. Two of the four dispensers on campus are located at the entrances of the Pattee and Paterno Libraries.
“Since Schlow has a Short Edition dispenser from the start, it made sense to explore the possibility of adding community stories to our community content,” said Hailley Fargo, student engagement librarian for Penn State University Libraries.

Stories are shared many ways. They are recounted in books and magazines. They are read aloud around the campfire at night. They are randomly dispensed from stand-alone kiosks, doled out on strips of paper like grocery store receipts.
Wait, what was that last one?
Leave it to the French, with their love of Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir, to revive literature in the era of hot takes, fast news and smartphone addiction.

Akron-Summit County Public Library is one of four public libraries nationwide to offer Short Story Dispensers, or kiosks that dispense written works at the touch of a button.
The Public Library Association, community publisher Short Edition and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation partnered to offer this program to four select libraries in the United States.

Penn State University Libraries launched its Penn State-exclusive creative writing platform today (Feb. 28), enabling anyone with an active psu.edu email address to join the site to submit, vote and comment on others’ original works. To celebrate, the Libraries’ Short Stories website is hosting its first short story competition with the theme “New Beginnings,” and winners’ works will be added to Penn State’s first set of short story dispensers on the University Park campus.

...But one innovation has broken new ground for voracious readers who prefer their next story stay in the physical realm. The Short Story Dispenser, which made a splash last month at CES 2018...

These machines allow consumers to access short stories to read while waiting in long lines. Stories, poems and essays from a community of 7,800 authors are printed on demand — you select the length (1, 3 or 5 minutes long).