Bookmobile news round-up

Prey on the weak much? "Library board mulls cutting jobs, literacy program in budget crunch," via the Globe and Mail
"A clear majority [of the Library board] have no interest in a reduction of hours, something Chief Librarian Jane Pyper suggested as a means of lopping 4.3 per cent off the agency’s budget, the remaining amount it must lose to meet Mayor Rob Ford’s demand of a 10 per cent cut. The board had already consented to a 5.7 per cent cut by eliminating 100 jobs and introducing new technology. But Ms. Pyper gently reminded the board that if it doesn’t squeeze 4.3 per cent in hour reductions, it will likely have to consider dropping adult literacy, bookmobile and student homework programs."

"Wielklem voor bibliobus in Maurik", via YouTube (and via Dr. Mary Cavanagh!)
There is less and less money for libraries. Many municipalities have cut back. Neighbors is the first municipality that decides to not have money to spend on a library. Children today are therefore the plans into action. They can take a chain of children all about the mobile library to go.

"Rosendale Primary School was announced winner of the SLA Library Design Award for 2011, " seen via Twitter
"Rosendale Primary School's Library Bus is ‘visionary’. Not in the sense of a library in a bus, as that is certainly not unique. But the concept of a school community volunteering together to design and build a new school library in a bus… this is truly visionary. Rosendale Primary School has 700 pupils housed in a cramped Victorian building. They needed a library, but there was neither the money nor space to build one. Instead, parent Kate Gorely had the idea of converting a London bus into a fit-for-purpose library. At a cost of slightly over £5,000 a group of 50 volunteers achieved just that in only nine months."

"Boonslick Regional Library gets some new wheels," by Megan Tilk, Boonville Daily News
"Recently, the library purchased a 2006 ELF Farber Ford E450. With an original cost of $182,500, the library's purchase cost came in at a lot less. previously used and kept in storage for two years, the library was able to purchase the new set of wheels for just $62,999 [....] The best part of the new van is that it comes with a kneel-down feature. It has the ability to raise and lower depending on the curb height so that way people can access the vehicle without steps. It also has better lighting, computer access and an exterior canopy."

"An Airstream Ingeniously Repurposed into a Library," via Poetic Home
"A vintage 1959 Airstream was converted into a traveling bookstore gallery no less, complete with exhibits of independent magazines, artist publications, and more literary goodness."

"Mobile library brings books to the streets of São Paulo," via InfoSurHoy.com

When he was homeless, "Mendonça took refuge in reading.He says he faced discrimination at the Mário de Andrade Municipal Library.“When I would approach a table with a book in my hand, people would get up and leave,” he says.Mendonça was also unable to borrow books because he didn’thave a permanent address.In 2002, he got off the streets, but he never forgot the people he met there.Through his NGO, he’s helped the homeless people return to their hometowns, get jobs at hostels and enroll in vocational courses.With his Bicicloteca, Mendonça provides the homeless with access to books without any bureaucracy and in an environment where they feel comfortable."

Bookmobile news round-up

From Jordan to China to Indonesia, to the Boing Airplane Co. in Seattle and a boxcar in Montana- and now with more printables!

• "Mobile Services, The Seattle Public Library -- The Bookmobile," via HistoryLink.org (editorial comment: Aweseome pictures)
  "On May 4, 1931, Seattle's first bookmobile, with 600 books, hit the road to West Seattle. Each day of the week, the van and its driver and librarian visited different parts of the city, making stops at prearranged locations. The last stop on Mondays was the Boeing Airplane Co. The bookmobile, designed by Arthur D. Jones of Seattle, featured four innovative bookshelves -- two on each side -- that rotated inside or outside. On nice days, borrowers browsed books from the street or sidewalk. In bad weather, they went inside the truck."
  
• "Mobile library spreads joy of reading," via the Middle East North Africa Financial Network (Jordan)
  "The Ministry of Culture on Tuesday officially inaugurated its mobile library project for 2011-2012, with the aim of promoting literacy and cultural exposure across the Kingdom."
• "Mobile Library brings joy of learning to children in China" via 4-traders
  "A mobile library funded by a Finnish foundation began its journey to schools for migrant children in China."
• Printable 3-D paper bookmobile (hey, whaddya mean, "relic of a bygone era?" Maybe for readers of the New Yorker, Bob, but we're still on the road where there is a need!)
• In case you didn't like that paper bookmobile, here's another.
  
• "Project Sophia Mobile Library--Books without borders for post-conflict children in Indonesia" via the Peace and Collaborative Development Network
  "The Sophia mobile library is basically a library in a vehicle, moving from village to village. The library vehicle, which also known as “the magic box,” contains storybooks for children and teenagers, textbooks, drawing books, stationaries, puzzles, origami, Indonesian children's movies, and children's songs." One of its objectives is to "open a space for intensive and massive communications across generation between various ethnics and religions which allow dialogue to occur and in the end would contribute to the joint effort in building peace."
• "Bookmobile driver shares joy of books on route," via the San Francisco Chronicle
  "She chats up the students, stokes their enthusiasm about new titles (" 'The Great Rabbit Rescue' comes out in December!") and at one stop reads a spooky Halloween story, "Bone Soup," out loud to the children. Most are the children of ranch owners and ranch workers; Jones knows each one by name. Jorge, a fifth-grader, is hooked on the Percy Jackson series, which retells Greek myths. Megan, a sixth-grader, is big in 4-H and searching for books on chickens [....] In the summertime when kids are not in school, we have 10 ranch stops. It keeps the kids reading for the summer, which is really important. We also get some of the single men who work on the ranches, and some of the moms take advantage of the materials to learn English."
• "The Lumberjack's Boxcar Library," via Exile Bibliophile
  "Beginning in 1919, this railroad boxcar was refitted to be a library on rails to serve the mobile timber camps in western Montana [....] It was in use into the late 1950s as a library by the Anaconda Company. After that, it was used by the University of Montana at one of their lumber research stations-- first as a library then as a dormitory. It was later used for storage, until it was discovered by the museum and acquired for restoration and interpretation of the timber history of the region."
• "Baldwin County's Bookmobile: Library on Wheels," via Alabama Live
  "Bookmobile patrons include [people at] retirement centers, retirement homes, assisted-living facilities, day-care centers, public and private schools that do not have an adequate library, the Association for Retarded Citizens, and some stops that are literally in the middle of nowhere. In remote areas, like Hubbard’s Landing north of Stockton, the Bookmobile stops at a fire station, post office, store or community center. Use of the Bookmobile has grown over the years," and the community now has 48 stops.
• "Our libraries deserve your 'yes'," via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  "We lived in one of the more obscure suburbs of Philadelphia then, and there was no library. But the library came to us in the Bookmobile. The Bookmobile was the coolest vehicle ever, a building with a steering wheel. When I was 3, if you had offered me the choice of someday driving a Ferrari or the Bookmobile, I would have snubbed the overgrown Matchbox bauble and gone for the literary bus."
  

Bookmobile news round-up

The theme of this particular bookmobile news round-up could well be Bookmobiles+ (or Bookmobiles 2.0, if you prefer): A mobile library offering programs, one at a souk, one promoting peace, one with hugs, one seeking a world record, a Supermobile, and a little red bookmobile that could, so to speak.

• "North Yorkshire unveils “Supermobile” library timetable" via the Harrogate News
  "From October 24, North Yorkshire County Council’s supermobile will call at twenty two locations on a rolling fortnightly timetable. Unlike the conventional mobile libraries, which were withdrawn last month, the supermobile offers a superior service, carrying around 3,000 items of stock – including books, DVDs, videos, and audio books – and offering internet access via satellite."
  Editorial note: Psh! We visit 22 locations on a weekly basis! We should be a "Supermobile!"
  
• "Mobile library for peace, Dharavi, Mumbai India." part of the Davis Projects for Peace
  David Projects for Peace is "an initiative for all students at the Davis United World College Scholars Program partner schools to design grassroots projects for the summer of 2012 - anywhere in the world - which promote peace and address the root causes of conflict among parties." This project was developed by Aravind Unni, from the University of California, Berkeley, and aimed "to wipe out the marginalization that the slum communities in Mumbai experience, by providing them access to information on informal education and healthier living through the simple act of storytelling."
• "Portland Public Library may add 'portable library' service," via the Forecaster (MA)
  "The library [will] probably purchase a van and equip it with wireless technology and computers, enabling the mobile unit to provide digital library services and a wide variety of educational services to people who are unable to travel to the main branch. "It's not just showing up as a bookmobile. It's also delivering programs.""
  
• "Library on wheels" by Amal Al-Sibai, via the Saudi Gazette
  "We don’t see travelers in the Kingdom’s airports reading while waiting for their flights, nor do we find children here picking reading as a fun pastime to ease their burden of boredom. This aloof attitude towards books is sure to change in the near future. With such initiatives by government officials such as the mobile library, more and more people will start gaining interest in reading. King Abdul Aziz Public Library packed 3,000 books in a large bus and sent it to Al-Taif during the Souk Okaz activities."
• "Foster: We must cultivate a love of reading in our island's children" via the Guam Pacific Daily News
  "Yesterday, Guam took part in the Jumpstart Read for the Record worldwide literacy event, in which readers from around the world read the same book on the same day to students. First lady Christine M.S. Calvo was one of the participants, reading "Llama Llama Red Pajama" to students at Chief Brodie Elementary School."
• "Smiles and hugs welcome bookmobile's monthly visit" via the Seattle Sketcher
  "Seattle has a brand-new bookmobile -- a red, white and blue van that went into service this week. The vehicle replaces one of four that deliver books to child-care centers, nursing homes and homebound residents who can't get to the library [....] "We know everybody by name," said Little, who was welcomed with a warm hug by Tess McBride, 88. That was the moment when it became clear to me that this is a different service of what anyone could get going to their branch library -- do you get hugged at yours? I don't."
• "Little Red Bookmobile expanding list of services" via ENC Today (Eastern North Carolina)
  "The Little Red Bookmobile that has gone into neighborhoods for five years delighting children and their parents with its treasure of books is expanding its services to offer after-school tutoring and to highlight science and nature."
  

Bookmobile news round-up

No, seriously, that's your boss? She looks so young! *

• "Mobile Library Festival, Turku 2011" (video)
  The International Mobile Library festival was held in Turku, Findland, last month. Buses from several (Nordic) countries were parked on the banks of Aurajoki River, near a Finnish library boat (gotta watch until the end to see that!)
• "Graying of the gay community - building new kind of library" via GazetteNET.com
  "The Out Books On Wheels, a Northampton-based mobile library created to help LGBT elders “continue enjoying life outside of the closet,” according to its mission statement."
• "Putting literacy on the road" via The Media Online
  Six new bookmobiles are on the road in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, serving as "multi-purpose mobile libraries that also offer computer and internet access, photocopying facilities, DVDs, CDs and toys. They will also provide a space for storytellers or speakers." In SA, UNESCO estimates that "7.4 and 8.5 million adults are functionally illiterate; between 2.9 and 4.2 million people have never attended school. One million children in South Africa live in a household where no adult can read, [and] just over 50% of South African families own no books for recreational or leisure time reading."
  
• "Bookmobile return overdue?" via the Worcester Telegram
  "Today, in an age when people are a mouse click away from gathering information from the Internet or are reading the latest bestseller on a portable electronic reader, bookmobiles are going the way of the trucks once used to make daily milk deliveries. That might not be the case in Worcester, however, where local book lovers and some city councilors are looking to buck the trend [....] Bookmobile service would be valuable because it is very difficult for many people to get to the library's three branches."
  
• ..... Is it creepy that there is another Ottawa with another Bookmobile? Discuss. "West Ottawa Bookmobile ends 2011 summer season" via The Holland Sentinel
  "“This is as good as it gets. It’s the bomb,” bus driver Robin Veenhoven said. “I get to drive a big bus around with Clifford and ‘Charlotte’s Web’ on it.”"
• Whaddya mean, improving on the bookmobile? "Almost a bookmobile, not quite a library" via Out of the Jungle
  "The Uni Project is a "portable reading room" designed for urban spaces [....] Davol's idea is to improve on the venerable bookmobile by adding features like furniture that encourages community members to hangout and enjoy the books and each other."
• "Volunteer on a Mobile Library in Malawi" via Idealist.org
  The Book Bus mobile library in Malawi visits schools in which "children learn to read by simply repeating what the teachers say, the memorise it, and repeat it again. As you can imagine, not a very insipring way to learn.The book Bus aims to provide children with the resources (fun, colourful storybooks) and the inclination to continue to read. We do this by working with small groups of children in Malawian schools, and practising reading. We also plan fun activities and games around the books to encourage them continue to use the books and persuade them that reading is fun and enjoyable."
• "Book bike will take library for a ride" via Tuscon Velo
  "The Pima County Library is putting a new spin on the book mobile. The newest vehicle in its fleet has one less wheel and a giant sunroof. The library’s new book bike will make its debut this winter."
• "San Francisco Public Library’s Green Bookmobile Visits the Exploratorium’s Front Parking Lot" via the Exploratorium
  Discover "the San Francisco Public Library’s new Green Bookmobile," which "runs on 20 percent biodiesel with a hybrid generator, [is] equipped with 4 solar panels, has skylights for natural light and it is made from sustainably forested wood with recycled content carpet."
  

* (But she did turn 31 last week)

Bookmobile news round-up

• "In Pictures: Devraj Urs Mobile Library in Bangalore" by Lavanya Srinivasan, from My Bangalore
  "The primary objective of the mobile library is to facilitate citizens through home lending. Though there is no membership fee, a small deposit of Rs. 40 must be made as refundable security. To become a member, all you need is a passport photograph and an address proof with the application form attested by a gazette officer."
  
• "Reading on the run" by Jonathan Allen, from the West Ashley Patch
  "Charleston County has been bringing the library to them since 1931 with its Bookmobile. The bus [...] stops at more than 40 locations twice a month."
  
• "Kids cheer for private bookmobile party" by Erin Pustay, from IndeOnline.com.
  "On the perfectly sunny Wednesday afternoon, the big blue bookmobile rolled right up in front of his Navarre home. It brought with it all the adventure and fun packed into the books it totes, as well as a craft and a story. “When the bookmobile pulled up,” children’s librarian Laura Klein said, “they were literally jumping up and down and cheering. They were so excited.”"
  
• "BiebBus: Amazing Dutch Children’s Library Pops Up Inside a Shipping Container" from inhabitat.com
  "The BiebBus Library can pull in, pop up and let kids participate in a parable or two in small Dutch towns." (First heard about this via IFLA's Mobile Library Guidelines, but now it's everywhere, even Yahoo)
• "Free Library Service in Brazilian Taxis" from PFSK
  "The Bibliotaxi contains a number of books inside the vehicle. Passengers can read any of the available books during their trip or borrow the books by registering their names and returning them to the taxi or other city locations."

Bookmobile news round-up

One of our previous bookmobiles, and possibly my personal favourite. Srsly, how freaking cute is it?

Tom Hawthorn. "Bookmobile takes library to the people." The Globe and Mail.
"At the Bookmobile, you do not need money, or identification, or an address. All you need is a desire to read. Even if you have nothing, you can always have that. The books are donated and there’s no fine if you don’t return them."

Photo essay: Mobile Library in Gaza City.

Samantha Bryant. "Georgetown City Council approves library bookmobile." Community Impact Newspaper (Texas)
"Georgetown City Council approved July 12 purchasing a $128,738 bookmobile for the public library that will be financed by the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library. The vehicle [will be] called “Words on Wheels,” or the WOWmobile."

"Clearview Library District's bookmobile proving very popular." The Coloradoan.
What I find interesting about this article is the throw-away line at the end saying the Bookmobile is visiting a local park and an arts festival on the weekend.... Great idea!

"Pakistan bookmobile turns to S.F. library for aid." SFGate.
Heart-warming story about a Pakistani man who visited the San Francisco bookmobile when in SF to see his daugher. Saeed Malik "returned to Pakistan, determined to start a bookmobile of his own. He sought out rural schools that lacked libraries. He persuaded the United Nations to donate two Land Cruisers. And he acquired 2,000 donated books in Urdu and English - the country's official languages - from the National Library of Pakistan and the Asia Foundation, a nonprofit from San Francisco."

Bookmobile news round-up

“New bookmobile to serve kids from county's migrant families” (from Palm Spring’s The Desert Sun):
“A bookmobile containing nearly 2,000 books and two computers with wireless Internet access that will serve the students of migrant workers in the Inland Empire was unveiled Wednesday at the Riverside County Education Office in Indio.”

Nina Sankovitch, “Cavern of Waiting Treasures: The Library Bookmobile” (from The Huffington Post):
“Sure, I can find those books in my firmly built and landscaped library building but there is something so very romantic and adventurous and mysterious about finding treasures in a traveling caravan.”

Kai Benson, "Bookmobile helps Slave Lake" (from the Sherwood Park News)
Strathcona County re-furbishes their retired bookmobile: "The library on wheels will serve Slave Lake until a temporary library is established in the fall."

Scott Tracey, "Library board gets money to keep Guelph Bookmobile rolling" (from the Guelph Mercury)
“If we don’t get this money [there are] going to be consequences for the City of Guelph,” noted library board chair Alan Pickersgill. “The Bookmobile is an incredibly popular service.”

"ALA Annual 2011: Showcasing the Best of Bookmobiles" (from SLJ.com)
"It was all about booksmobiles last Sunday at the American Library Association's (ALA) annual conference in New Orleans, where attendees got to see the hottest trends in these traveling libraries and board some of the latest designs during the Parade of Bookmobiles."
(I want to go!)

Bookmobiles: on the road, off the road

Not in Ottawa ... although sometimes we are off the road for mechanical issues.

I meant on/off in a more permanent sense. You may not have been following the recent bookmobile-related news in Halifax and Guelph (but I have!)

Halifax announced they were cancelling their bookmobile, then announced a day later that they were re-instating it (and weeks later, someone still thinks it should be pulled off the road for good).

Meanwhile, a Guelph councillor put forward a motion to cancel Bookmobile service; the motion was defeated by a close margin. Councillors later endorsed another motion from a different councillor to fund the service for 6 months while undertaking a review of the service. An interesting letter to the editor in the local Guelph newspaper later questioned the use of "cost effectiveness" as a measure of the bookmobile's "success" (making some valid points; other criteria must be considered, too... We rely far too heavily on circulation statistics overall in libraries, although, at the end of the day, people coming in the door are certainly crucial!)

We've had a few inquires about our service, and, at the moment, our service will stay. Barb recently spoke about this to the Sun.

Interesting times! But then, they were never dull: check out the variety of vehicles we have used over the years here.

Bookmobile news flood

I should have seen it coming: the US is looking towards National Bookmobile Day on April 14. That suddenly explains a lot...

This is pretty neat, though: authors driving bookmobiles! And interviewing people about books that changed their lives. Michael Ondaatje could ask me about anything in the cramped quarters of an antique bookmobile ANY DAY.

Also featured, but tragically less hot than Ondaatje: Lewis Black, Junot Diaz, Daniel Handler... Hey, only 10 out 40 of are women. What's with that?

Anyway, none of the stops are near the Canadian border, unless you want to swim across the great lakes to Michigan etc. Sigh. I have already met Ondaatje, and heard Diaz speak, so I'll sit this one out. I guess.