Airport turns waiting time to reading time with Short Story Dispensers
By Joy Benedict
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ONTARIO, California (KCAL, KCBS) — Inside Terminal 2 at the Ontario International Airport, there’s a kiosk that prints out what appear to be tickets or scrolling receipts — but actually they are quick reads, poetry and short stories, meant for passenger enjoyment.
It’s a Short Story Dispenser, and with the push of a button, out pops a printed parable.
Mariaelena Rosas chose the Spanish option for her story. “I think it’s fun, cause if you’re here for a long time, you’ve got something to do,” she said.
The dispenser also has stories in English and a children’s choice. A little something for every traveler, and it’s free.
“It’s been super popular with passengers,” airport spokesperson Steve Lambert said. He says they purchased two short story dispensaries, one for each terminal, hoping to help those traveling escape the noise.
“We want people to come here because they want to enjoy their travel experience. And anything we can do to make that happen is super important,” Lambert said.
The Short Story Dispenser is actually a product of French publishing house, Short Edition. Since developing the chest full of chronicles a few years ago, they now have about 600 set up worldwide, half of which are in the U.S.
Kristan LeRoy with the Short Edition says they are growing in popularity, not just in airports but at schools, libraries and the transportation sector – where people are happy to pick up something to read.
“It’s a great way to reach people’s hearts and minds and not just their pocketbook,” LeRoy said.
So businesses like the airport purchase the dispenser and pay for a subscription to access stories from writers all over the world, and they can also upload their own.
“Soon we’ll have the capability of allowing people to submit their own short stories,” Lambert said. “I think there’s a budding author in all of us.”
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