I saw Jason Epstein talk about this print on demand book making machine at METRO's "It's All about the Book" conference earlier this summer. It will be set up at NYPL's Science Industry and Business Library through September 7.
This machine prints books on demand, and will do so for free at the library. I believe there are only 20 choices for now, but it's still pretty cool. Epstein is convinced this is the future of publishing--and of libraries. I can imagine that for the former, but not for the latter.
I have not yet learned my lesson about saying unintentionally hurtful things on my blog, so I will ask the question, "why the fuck doesn't NYPL have the announcement on their website or any mention of it on the SIBL home page?" I heard about it (aside from Epstein's talk at Brooklyn College) from an announcement on the METRO list. When I went to find the most appropriate link for this little post, I sure expected to find something official. I can see not quite grokking web 2.0 stuff, but for the love of god, posting to the web in addition to making email announcements seems pretty ten years ago. (Boy am I going to feel dumb if the announcement was up there all this time, but as of August 2 at 12:27pm Eastern, the search fails.) I don't bring this up to say "ha ha; NYPL sucks" or anything like that. It's more about my frustration with large libraries' inability to get anything done, due to bureaucracy, fear, unwillingness to let employees do anything, etc.
The email announcement ends,
"For exhibit specifics, contact SIBL’s director Kristin McDonough at 212 592-7080. For more information about the Espresso, contact Dane Neller, dane@ondemandbooks.com 212-966-2222, On Demand Books, LLC 584 Broadway, Suite 1100, NYC 10013"