Last week, Deanna Robertson and her two sons stood on their front lawn in western Virginia scanning the sky for a drone they could hear humming from almost a mile away.
When it finally arrived, hovering above their heads, the boys rushed forward to take what it offered: a copy of “All Quiet on the Western Front,” required summer reading and possibly the first library book delivered by drone in history.
With students unable to make it to the library because of the coronavirus, Montgomery County Public Schools have partnered with Wing, the drone-delivery unit of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, to deliver books to their homes. One week into the project, there have been more than 35 successful deliveries, said Kelly Passek, a middle-school librarian and the mastermind of the project.
“I thought that this would be a great way to get our resources to our students,” Passek said. “Now that we’ve entered this time of social distancing and remote learning, it’s become even more necessary.”
Robertson said she appreciated the program because the combination of summertime and a pandemic had given students lots of free time. “I know kids love to read,” she said. “It’s an amazing program that you can just type this into the computer and a book gets delivered.”
Students living in Wing’s 4-mile delivery zone in Christiansburg can use a Google form to request a specific book or ask Passek to choose one she thinks they would like. Around 600 Montgomery County students live within the delivery footprint.
After pulling a book from the library shelf and making sure it weighs less than 3 pounds, Passek packages the book and takes it to Wing’s office in Christiansburg. The drone takes over from there. It flies to a delivery site, lowers the book on a cable and releases the grip as it hits the ground.
The students can borrow multiple books and do not have to return them until they go back to school in the fall.
Many Christiansburg residents have grown used to the buzzing sound in their town, Robertson said. Last October, Wing was the first company approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to offer drone delivery to customers in Christiansburg.
Keith Heyde, the head of Virginia operations for Wing, said the company had completed thousands of deliveries of things like over-the-counter medications from Walgreens and cold brew from local coffee shops. The drones, which have a wingspan of 3.3 feet and weigh 10.6 pounds, can fly 12 miles round trip.
Passek was one of the first Christiansburg residents to receive a drone delivery when Wing began the program. Her first order, a Walgreens cough and cold care package, made her think of other uses for drones in the community, namely library books. She raised the idea with Heyde last fall and revisited it with him when the coronavirus hit the United States.
Book requests have been a mix of required summer reading and books of a student’s choice, Passek said. While Robertson’s 14-year-old son, Brendan, was assigned “All Quiet on the Western Front,” her younger son, Camden, 11, ordered John Grisham’s “Theodore Boon: Kid Lawyer” to read for fun.
“We wanted to provide the resources that are needed for the students and we also wanted to provide free-choice options because that’s how our students become even stronger students,” Passek said. “Any way that we can get students to read is a win for us.”
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, drones have been used in novel ways all over the world. In Britain, the police used drones to enforce social distancing. In Fairfield, Connecticut, they were used to monitor beach and parkgoers. An eager drone user in Queens broadcast a coronavirus safety message on his drone’s speakers as it flew over the streets of New York City.
Wing offers delivery from Walgreens, FedEx and a few local businesses such as Mockingbird Cafe and Sugar Magnolia. Cold-brew coffees are particularly popular, Heyde said.
Since the coronavirus, there has been a substantial increase per month in sign-ups for drone delivery, he said, but he believes the virus accelerated a pre-existing trend.
“Drone delivery services, in general, are really helpful for anytime you can’t leave the house, whether it’s a sickness or immediate mobility impairment. It helps folks make one less trip to the store,” Heyde said. “Obviously with COVID-19 this became incredibly important.”
Heyde said that, to the best of his knowledge, this is the first library book program by drone in history.
“If we can provide even one or two students with a resource they wouldn’t have access to otherwise because they wouldn’t be able to go to the library, that’s a win,” he said. “It’s not just food and staples that folks need delivered to them. It’s also the little things that can spark a little bit of joy.”
c.2020 The New York Times Company
