About
the Lane Library Bookmobiles:
Our
mission at Bookmobile is to make the library more accessible
to people who find it difficult or impossible to travel to a
Lane facility, and to connect schools and their students to
the library. This mission is accomplished through servicing
schools, day-care centers, nursing homes and retirement communities,
as well as rural communities such as Millville, Shandon and
Somerville.
Lane's
"library on wheels" was inaugurated in 1938 and was
one of only five bookmobiles in Ohio at that time. The first
bookmobile was little more than an enclosed truck bed with wooden
shelving. In the fall of 1939 checkout was recorded as 719 books.
Bookmobile Service has come a long way since then. In April
of 2003, Bookmobile showed 18, 755 pieces of material checked
out by users. Yes, the word was material, it's not just about
books anymore.
The
Bookmobile is a full service library carrying adult, teen and
children's books, regular and large print, audiobooks, music
CDs, videotapes, DVDs and CD-ROMs. The Bookmobile is no longer
an enclosed truck bed with wooden shelving. In the summer of
2001, two new state-of-the-art vehicles were introduced into
service.
The
35-foot Matthews Freightliner is a traditional-style bookmobile,
with 350 feet of shelving. It mostly visits elementary schools,
preschools and community stops.
The smaller 27-foot Farber Freightliner is primarily used to
visit senior residences and the middle schools. The Farber is
very different from the more traditional bookmobiles in that
it has four book carts that attach to the truck's walls as shelving.
The rear of the truck has a lift that allows the shelving to
be taken off the truck and into a building. The addition of
such a specialized vehicle makes it possible for the bookmobile
staff to implement exciting new services for populations who
find it impossible to access the traditional bookmobile.
