Book Vending Machines

The Buffalo News reports on “five newly-installed book vending machines” in Paris, France.

We knew that French bibliophiles would be horrified to see their books falling into a trough like candy or soda. So we installed a mechanical arm that grabs the book and delivers it safely.

Given the rise of robotic storage and retrieval systems in libraries, is this any surprise? Is this another sign that libraries have peaked?

Also compare to the heavy use of vending machines in Japan.