HALIFAX—Wednesday will mark a book launch of a totally different kind as a joint venture between Halifax Public Libraries and Halifax Stanfield International Airport takes flight.

The unveiling of two library kiosks — one located pre-security, the other post-security — will provide travellers, airport staff and local residents with the opportunity to check out a varied collection of between 350 and 400 books.

Described as similar to “big, glass-doored fridges,” the two kiosks will be stocked with books accessed by using a Halifax Public Libraries card.

“You simply scan in your card, type in your PIN number, open the door and browse the books in there. Then you take what you want, close the door, and you’re good to go. It’s very easy to use,” said Dave MacNeil, manager of collections and access for Halifax Public Libraries.

The RFID tags on the books — a radio frequency identification similar to the tech on credit and debit cards that allow users to tap to pay — will tell the kiosk when a book has been removed. Once a user selects a book and closes the door, the kiosk scans what’s inside, knows which book is not there, applies the borrowed book to the user’s account and prints out a receipt.

MacNeil said a little more than a year ago, the airport approached them about a partnership to help promote the library’s digital resources. That discussion quickly grew into a partnership to co-share the cost of two kiosks to provide a physical library presence at the airport.

“We’re trying to cater to all audiences so there’s a good mix of general fiction for adults, picture books and board books for kids, lots of quick reads that would include short stories, general trivia, your Chicken Soup type books, travel books,” MacNeil said.

“All things you can pick up if you’re travelling to pass some time waiting for your flight or choose from any of the number of novels that you might want to take with you on your trip.”

MacNeil said the kiosks are similar to “an unstaffed branch,” with all the same rules in place. You can have your books for three weeks, renew them online if need be, and drop them back off at the kiosk, a drop-off box at the airport’s baggage pick-up area, or at any of the 14 library branches across HRM.

Although the book-borrowing kiosks are initially limited for the time being to those who possess a Halifax Public Libraries card, MacNeil said they’re looking at ways to expand the system.

“We’re aware that might be an impediment to some of our airport visitors so we’re actually working on a way to make things a bit simpler there,” he said.

“There’s nothing I can tell you about yet, but we’re hoping in the near future it’ll be fairly easy for folks to get access to this even if they arrive at the airport without a card.”

MacNeil said once they get a better idea of how well-used the kiosks will be, staff will deliver books to the airport on a regular basis.

“The kiosks themselves send us alerts so we’ll know if it’s actually running low on books so we’ll be able to quickly react when the number of books actually drops down to a critical level so we can restock it,” he said. “We’re prepared for that.”

Airport and library staff are both confident based on their research that the airport library kiosks are a first for a North American airport.

“We understand it to be the first. We’re pretty sure. We’ve not found any other library on the entire continent that actually has one of these (in an airport),” MacNeil said.

Brian LeBlanc, senior manager of information technology for the Halifax International Airport Authority, said the airport is proud to be offering yet another first to its visitors.

“We were actually the first airport in North America to launch the self-service bag drops … and we’re proud to say we were the first to offer free public wireless in Canada,” LeBlanc said in an interview.

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“That was another attraction for this sort of service. Being an innovator. We at Halifax Stanfield have many awards for customer service … and this we believe is another thing we can provide.”

LeBlanc said he has high hopes for the kiosk book service and expects it will be well-used. He’s so optimistic he’s already scoped out a few other areas where more kiosks may be installed in the future.

“When you’re planning for a trip you often don’t think about those little extras like reading material, but then when you’re there sitting on a beach you want that book,” LeBlanc said.

“Or parents travelling with kids may like nothing better than to grab a Robert Munsch book and be able to entertain their kids while they potentially wait for a delay or something like that. For us, this is exciting.”

Yvette d’Entremont is a Halifax-based reporter covering health, environment and education. Follow her on Twitter: @ydentremont

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