School Librarian Delivers Books by Drone for Summer Reading

School Librarian Delivers Books by Drone for Summer Reading

A librarian at Montgomery County Public Schools has introduced book delivery services via drone, to keep kids reading during the summer. Librarian Kelly Passek, a Blacksburg Middle School librarian, pitched district leaders on the idea as a response to school closures related to COVID-19.

As she told reporters, she considers "free choice reading," the reading students do for themselves, "so important to the success of our students, both academically and in life in general. If we can get library resources into their hands, we can help them stay on a path to success."

The idea grew out of Passek's own use of a drone delivery services in Christianburg, VA, her community. In 2019 a company called Wing Aviation received Federal Aviation Administration permission to make air deliveries to homes in the Christianburg area. Wing, a company within Alphabet (the firm behind Google), struck deals with local businesses to deliver health products, food and beverages. Passek, an early fan of the service, eventually pitched the book delivery idea to Wing, which responded that they were "on board."

The company had already reached out to the school system, hosting field trips for high school and middle school students and making donations to the high schools, to enable them to purchase drone equipment and curriculum.

Wing drones are about 10 pounds and can carry up to three pounds of goods. Students order the books via a Google Form, then Passek places them into a cardboard container with a handle and delivers those containers to Wing's delivery facility. From there, the packages are hooked onto the drone via a tether or cord. The drone climbs to a height of about 150 feet, flies to the destination, slows, hovers and drops to an altitude of about 23 feet at the delivery address. The drone lowers the tether and automatically releases the package into the yard (either front or back), reels in the tether, climbs back to "cruise height" and returns to the Wing site.

School Librarian Delivers Books by Drone for Summer Reading

Students have been told to hang onto their books until the new school year begins and they can return them in person.

"We pride ourselves on finding innovative ways to serve our students," said district Superintendent Mark Miear, in a statement. "We are excited to continue our streak of innovation through this pilot program that brings library books to our students via drone delivery."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • stylized human profiles, tablets, and floating icons

    From Feedback to Flexibility: 5 AI Tools Teachers Should Try

    As a fifth-grade teacher and AI School Champion in the St. Vrain Valley School District, I've seen firsthand how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education. Here are five AI-enabled tools I've found especially powerful in my classroom and professional practice.

  • silhouetted student stands before the White House, surrounded by abstract digital graphics of brains, circuits, and AI elements

    White House Sets Sights on AI Education

    A new executive order from President Donald Trump aims to advance America's position in artificial intelligence technology by incorporating AI into education and providing AI training for educators.

  • interconnected glowing nodes and circuits in blue and green, forming a neural network on a dark background with a futuristic design

    Tech Giants Launch $100 Billion National AI Infrastructure Project

    OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle have announced a new venture, Stargate, through which they aim to build a massive AI infrastructure network across the United States. The initiative, which was announced at the White House with President Donald Trump, has been described as the "largest AI infrastructure project in history."

  • stacks of glowing digital documents with circuit patterns and data streams

    Mistral AI Intros Advanced AI-Powered OCR

    French AI startup Mistral AI has announced Mistral OCR, an advanced optical character recognition (OCR) API designed to convert printed and scanned documents into digital files with "unprecedented accuracy."