bookmobile

The bookmobile of the Ottawa Public Library at the Sunnyside branch, its former headquarters. Note the backwards branding (in both English and French, due to Ottawa's large francophone population) above the windshield. This particular model is based on a Saf-T-Liner HDX chassis.

A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. They are designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. They usually have sufficient space that people can also sit and read books inside them. Mobile libraries are often used to provide library services to villages and city suburbs without library buildings. They also service those who have difficulty accessing libraries, with retirement homes being common stops. They may also carry other information or computer equipment, such as might be found in a library. Some libraries also use their bookmobiles to deliver materials, such as audio books and large print novels, to homebound patrons who don't have anyone to go to the library for them.

The Perambulating Library of 1859 in Warrington.

The first mobile library in Britain is thought to be the Warrington Perambulating library in 1859. This horse drawn vehicle was run by the Warrington Mechanics Institute to increase their annual circulation of books. The cost in the first year was £275 but the library lent nearly 12,000 books.^[1]

The first Bookmobile in the United States was developed by Mary Lemist Titcomb^[2] (1857-1932). While employed at the Washington County, Maryland Free Library, Titcomb was concerned that the library was not reaching all of the people it could. So, she worked on a plan for a book wagon. In 1905 the Washington County Free Library provided the first book wagon in the nation to residents by taking the books directly to their homes in remote parts of the county. ^[3]

The Gerstenslager company specialized in building mobile libraries and similar vehicles in the 1950s.

The Internet Archive Bookmobile prints out-of-copyright books on demand, and in whatever type size is desired. The project has spun off similar efforts elsewhere in the developing world. ^[4]

Other mobile libraries

Bookmobiles are used in many countries, but a mobile library can be run without a vehicle. Examples include:

• A Camel Library Service in Kenya. This service which is funded by the Kenyan government and as a charity in Garissa and Wajir near the border with Somalia. The service started with three camels in October 1996 and had twelve in 2006 delivering 7000 books,^[5] daily in both English, Somali and Swahili^[6] This service has been used as a background for the novel "The Camel Bookmobile" by Masha Hamilton.
• A Donkey-drawn mobile library in Zimbabwe^[7] is being used to not only deliver books, but also to deliver access to the internet and multimedia.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mobile libraries

• The Biblioburro: another donkey-drawn travelling library in Colombia.
• The library ship Epos serves many small communities in Western Norway.

Further Reading

• The Bookmobile: Defining the Information Poor An article on the history of the bookmobile in the US.

References