GLEN BURNIE, MD (March 27, 2019) – MDOT MVA is rolling out a novel free service for its customers. Well, more like a short story, really.
The Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration has partnered with Prince George’s County Memorial Library System (PGCMLS) to offer the Short Edition kiosk at the MVA’s Beltsville branch. The kiosk allows customers to choose from 8,500 short stories categorized as one-, three- and five-minute reads. The stories are printed out on receipt-size sheets of paper.
“At MDOT MVA, we are committed to providing premier customer service to the citizens of Maryland and finding innovative ways to partner with the communities we serve,” said Chrissy Nizer, MDOT MVA Administrator. “We are delighted that Prince George’s County saw MDOT MVA as a natural spot for the Short Edition kiosk.”
A ribbon-cutting was held earlier today for the pilot program, which places the kiosk at the Beltsville MVA branch for the next six months. Prince George’s County Memorial Library is the first library in Maryland to roll out Short Edition.
“PGCMLS is dedicated to working with our community to offer opportunities outside the neighborhood branch libraries, as well as excellent service when they visit,” said CEO Roberta Phillips. “We want to be there for our customers wherever they are, and this partnership offers a great opportunity to get stories to people while they have an extra minute to read. Push a button, get a story.”
The selection of stories can be refreshed as needed, since the system draws from a database of more than 100,000 titles. Along with published authors and the classics, stories are sourced through writing competitions and are divided into two categories, “young readers” and “everyone else.” The content comes from the community publishing platform short-edition.com.
The Beltsville MVA branch is located at 11760 Baltimore Ave. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday; and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday for driver’s license services only. | 
