The Library Express East, a 24-hour outdoor library kiosk, opened at 3263 E. Chestnut Expressway in August. The unit allows library card holders to check out books and DVDs and is located in the parking lot of the Frisco Building near U.S. 65.
The unit is the Springfield-Greene County Library District’s second 24-hour kiosk. The first one, the Library Express West, serves library card holders at the kiosk in Orchard Plaza, 3872 W. Chestnut Expressway. At the time, the west-side kiosk was the first of its kind in Missouri and one of only a dozen in the United States.
Both units were manufactured by EnvisionWare and funded by the Friends of the Library and a Library Services and Technology grant through the State Library. The library district will fund the maintenance and utilities costs, and lease of the lot space.
The kiosks work much like a book vending machine. Visitors can browse the shelves of some 340 books and DVDs through the kiosk window, scan their library card, type in the item number, and the conveyor belt will send the item through a drawer.
Users can also request that a book, DVD and other library materials delivered there instead of a traditional library branch. The Library will alert them when it’s available to pick up at the kiosk. There’s also a book return drawer that accepts any library item checked out from any branch in the district.