Government

Virginia county installs fully automated library kiosk

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April 8, 2021

The Franklin County, Virginia public library has installed a fully automated branch that is available 24/7 under a canopy near a business park, according to a report in The Roanoke Times.

The kiosk, which contains 235 books, audio books and DVDs, was paid for by around $140,000 in federal CARES Act funds.

The county bought the machine from EnvisionWare, which specializes in self-service libraries.

In February, the Roanoke libraries installed a similar machine in South Roanoke from MK Solutions, a German company.

The machine accepts library cards and is also is Wi-Fi enabled, which allows card holders to download offerings from the library's digital collection.