The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
BOOKMOBILE ROLLS OUT
New vehicle embarks on delivery route as part of library program
“A bookmobile is about going places. It’s about where we have been and where we are going.” — Mobile Services Manager Nick Fagan said during the ceremony
Residents of Geauga County are seeing a bigger and better bookmobile rolling down the roads throughout the county.
The Geauga County Public Library unveiled the new bookmobile at the Maple Festival Parade on April 29. The library had a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony the next day at its Middlefield Branch before sending the bus out on its first delivery route.
“A bookmobile is about going places,” Mobile Services Manager
Nick Fagan said during the ceremony. “It’s about where we have been and where we are going.”
The library began its bookmobile program over 30 years ago, in which people can browse and borrow books and other items from inside the bus. And, according to Fagan, the new bookmobile follows in the tread marks of three previous mobile libraries.
“The bookmobile has been a hit since the beginning and has only become more popular over time which is why this new bookmobile is bigger and provides more browsing space,” he said.
The new bookmobile is a 35-foot-long bus wrapped in a pastoral picture depicting the rolling hills of Geauga County. It replaces an 11-year-old bus that had over 140,000 miles and checked out over 2 million items, Fagan said.
The library has said that the maintenance cost for the old bus began rising to a point where replacing it became the fiscally responsible decision.
The new bookmobile holds approximately 4,000 materials and makes up to 33 stops a week with the majority of them in Amish communities. Fagan is hopeful that with more browsing space and more room the community will share in the library staff’s excitement.
“It can be found traveling down the dirt roads and to the remote reaches of our county and it will provide a crucial services to those with limited library access,“Fagan said.
In addition to the bookmobile, the library’s mobile service also operates a Fun Bus Bookmobile that is designed for community events and preschools, said marketing Manager Lori Weber. The library also operates the Lobby Stop Vehicle that is equipped with book carts that can be easily wheeled into assisted living facilities, nursing homes and senior centers.
Overall, the Mobile Services department serves more than 3,000 people each month at more than 250 stops, checking out over 350,000 items annually, Weber said.
“(W)hat bookmobiles really bring is larger than what lines their shelves,” Fagan said. “Bookmobiles bring along opportunities. They bring along opportunities for personal growth; to learn how to build a chair; make a double chocolate cake; how to keep the orchid alive; how to run a better business or just become a stronger reader.”
Fagan also notes that the bookmobile brings along the opportunity for socialization and to engage other patrons because the bus serves as a temporary community space for neighbors to chat while they browse the selections.
He describes the mobile service as a lifeline to many patrons of the library who rarely have the opportunity to travel to one of the their brick-and-mortar locations. The bookmobile allows the library to come to them.
“Our patrons recognize the bookmobile’s value and the opportunities it presents and they eagerly await us as we arrive,” Fagan said.
Many of the library’s patrons walk considerable distances just to visit the bookmobile.
Middlefield Mayor Ben Garlich, who was in attendance at the dedication ceremony, expressed how he felt the graphics on the bus were genius and had all the elements of the market the bookmobile services.
“The spirit of community that this library brings to our town we could never afford to buy on our own,” Garlich told the library staff. “I look at your schedule, the agenda of services you bring is for more than just bringing books on a book mobile. So I appreciate that being located here in Middlefield and I appreciate the strength of it and your constant quest for improvement ... It’s a great asset to this community”
“This service improves the lives of many Geaugians and with this new bookmobile the library is reaffirming its dedication to serving the wider community,” Fagan said. “May this vehicle serve the community well and continue the tradition or reaching out behind the library walls into the fourth decade of GCPL bookmobile service.”
The Amish community which accounts for 65 percent to 75 percent of the bookmobile’s circulation making them largest portion of the mobile services patrons, according to Weber. The bookmobile makes 64 monthly stops at rural Amish locations.
“Serving as many citizens as possible is our goal,” Library Director Ed Worso said. “The GCPL strives to efficiently reach citizens where they may be. Geauga County is a large county and transportation is an issue for some of our citizens. If people can’t get to the library, then the library will visit them and ensure that all citizens have access to books and other materials.”
Nancy Miller, a resident in one of the Amish communities serviced by the bookmobile, said she really loves the bus as she boarded it with her kids at the its second stop. Miller and her kids excitedly deposited the books they were returning and hurried to see what new books they could find.
“The kids love it. If I see new books, I’ll get those titles,” Miller said. “This is a lot roomier, it’s bigger, it’s nice, It’s beautiful.”
Karen Nichols, a library employee who helps staff the bus, said that they know they are valued and she feels it’s really a treat to work in a community that is so eager.
“We feel like Santa’s sleigh pulling up,”Nichols said. “We can’t wait for the kids to board the bus and see what surprises await.”