To improve reading and literacy rates among children, the City of Sunnyvale in Santa Clara County, California, has unveiled a new book vending machine that will function as a “mini, freestanding library”.
“41 percent of Santa Clara County third graders are not reading at grade level” and there is evidence of a “gap in north Sunnyvale between the need and availability of early learning and literacy opportunities”.
The machine, bought with a grants from ‘Friends of the Sunnyvale Public Library’ and ‘FIRST 5’, a public agency that distributes funding from Califonia’s Tobacco Tax, will serve “patrons in north Sunnyvale who may find it more convenient and accessible to check out books and other materials in their neighborhood, rather than traveling to Sunnyvale’s central library”.
The vending machine will contain 220 books and materials for children up to five-years-old and their parents. Books can be borrowed by simply scanning a library card, and can be returned through a nearby return bin.
If successful, there are plans to roll out more vending machines throughout Sunnyvale and Santa Clara County.
[FIRST 5 and City of Sunnyvale, via Flavorwire]