Promoting literacy on library's short list
Dec. 4—HENDERSON — It's like a vending machine, but with reading.
One of Perry Memorial Library's latest tools to foster a love for reading is The Short Story Cube, a machine designed by French publishing company Short Edition that dispenses short stories in eco-friendly paper form.
Wave your hand in front of the cube's sensor and out comes a short story geared toward either children or adults.
"The intention is that one will always stay [at the library] and the other will be circulating throughout the county," said Perry Memorial Assistant Director Christy Bondy. "Basically what it is to promote literacy and give people an opportunity to get a short story."
The stories, printed on narrow material resembling a receipt, can be as long as a few feet. The sample story The Dispatch received Wednesday was "The Kitten Conundrum," a children's mystery by Sara Matson.
The orange-and-black cubes contain more than 300,000 stories to make duplicates unlikely, and the content isn't limited to stories only. There's also comics and other graphic illustrations.
Funding for The Short Story Cube was made possible by a State Library of North Carolina grant.
"We're hoping to get them in doctor's offices, businesses, YMCA," Bondy said, "All of the [local] schools have pretty much signed up to have one for a week because they're kind of our pilot program that we just started at the beginning of the week."
The first stop was E.M. Rollins Elementary.
The cube, which is popular in Europe but nascent in the U.S., features software that allows users to write their own stories to be uploaded and printed.
Cube content can also be themed for holidays or events like Black History Month.
"I'm pretty excited, and it seems like the possibilities are kind of endless with it," Bondy said. "You can do all sorts of things with it."
Bondy and Perry Memorial Director Patti McAnally recently unveiled another new instrument at the library's disposal: the Charlie Cart Project.
Charlie Cart is a mobile kitchen on wheels with power, storage for utensils and cookware, and a sink.
A Triangle North Healthcare Foundation grant brought to Henderson Charlie Cart, which, like The Story Cube, can have a multitude of uses. At the forefront is promoting food literacy.
It's all about learning about nutrition and health. The cart will be the focal point of cooking classes geared toward healthy recipes, illness prevention and mindful eating.
Charlie Cart will also tie in nicely with the community garden the library has planned for the spring.
Bondy said she envisions it being an intergenerational concept; with children, their parents and grandparents learning about healthy eating together.
