Bookmobiles

Bookmobiles Fading in Japan

From the Japan Times:

Thirty-nine local governments in Japan stopped providing \”mobile library\” services in the three-year period up to fiscal 2000, according to a study released by the Japan Library Association.
Their demise was caused by declining use of the mobile libraries and hard financial times at local governments, said the study, made available to Kyodo News on Saturday.

The public borrowed about 15 million books from mobile libraries across the country last year, down from 21 million books 10 years ago, it said . . .

More.

December 24, 2001 by Bookmobiles 0

Pittsburgh Bookmobile Funding in Crisis

A suprisingly detailed article on the struggle to fund Pittsburgh\’s apparently much-loved bookmobiles, from a new favorite, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

When Rosemary Mahalchak began searching for a videotape of a film called \”Breathing Lessons,\” she expected to find it rather easily because it was made recently, had well-known stars and was filmed, in part, around Pittsburgh.

But after a five-month search through bookstores, libraries and video stores, Mahalchak gave up hope of finding the 1994 made-for-TV movie . . . Then, just as she does one Tuesday each month, Mahalchak walked over to the Bookmobile when it stopped at the Chartiers Senior Resource Center in Carnegie, a few blocks from her home.

\”When I saw it here, I almost fell on the floor,\” said Mahalchak, a youthful 77-year-old with a flair for the dramatic who was at the Bookmobile last week returning the tape. . .

Mahalchak, though, and other Bookmobile patrons now are worried that with Allegheny County eliminating its funding for the five mobile libraries . . .

More.

October 21, 2001 by Bookmobiles 0

Update on Bookmobile Concept

Steven Bell writes \”I came across this in an Educause e-news report. Therefore I don\’t have a URL for the orginal report from Wireless Newsfactor. Thought you might be interested though.


The Community College Foundation of California promotes
technology awareness in poor urban areas with eBuses. An eBus
is a mobile computer lab with workstations and a satellite
linkup that travels through underprivileged neighborhoods,
offering computer training and Web access services.

\”We can just park the bus and people come right
up, We\’ll park in front of a library, do some
training, and then show people that the same technology is
available inside that library.\”

(Wireless Newsfactor, 23 August 2001)\”


They have a nice WebSite and the buses even have WebCams. I think we ran something on this already, but it\’s neat stuff.

August 27, 2001 by Bookmobiles 0

The Ol’ Bookmobile

Idahostatesman.com has a cool Story on a traveling library created in 1898 by the women of the Boise Colombian Club. The books were loaded into wooden crates and shipped by stagecoach or train to a library station. The article outlines the entire history of libraries in ID.

May 8, 2001 by Bookmobiles 0

Praise For The Bookmobile

PressRepublican.com has a Long Story on The Clinton-Essex-Franklin(NY) Library System Bookmobile. They want to add a rolling connection to the internet some day!

\”The libraries are becoming increasing important They’re no longer just (for) books; they’re part of the Information Age. They’re teaching schoolchildren how to access the information that’s available worldwide. They’re getting kids in the North Country ready for the dot-com jobs that are there.\”

January 22, 2001 by Bookmobiles 0

Bookmobile Serves the Amish

R Hadden Writes: Information on how the Amish
are served by a library bookmobile in
Middlefield, Ohio, is provided by the Associated Press
article in an
article
published in the Canton
Repository.

You may also want to read other articles and
opinions in this newspaper about the current strike by
employees of the local public library.

Does anyone have any updates on the strike?

R Hadden Writes: Information on how the Amish
are served by a library bookmobile in
Middlefield, Ohio, is provided by the Associated Press
article in an
article
published in the Canton
Repository.

You may also want to read other articles and
opinions in this newspaper about the current strike by
employees of the local public library.

Does anyone have any updates on the strike?
From the Canton Rep

Without movies
and television and videos, the Amish children
particularly look forward to the once-a-week visit.

Ida Fisher waits until the bus is in her Middlefield
driveway, then sends her six children scampering
aboard. They range in age from 11 to 1, and the older
ones help the younger ones choose.

The process takes no more than 15 minutes, and with
the bus still in the drive, five of the children are in chairs
on the family porch engrossed in their finds. As the bus
pulls away, Ida already is reading to her youngest, Mary.

‘‘Reading’s their favorite thing,’’ she says, and
11-year-old daughter Kathryn nods in agreement.

The bookmobile was purchased with a grant from the
State Library of Ohio in 1986. At that time, it made a day
of stops in the Amish communities of Middlefield and
Parkman.

‘‘The kids in the community got together and
discovered that if they gathered on a corner, the
bookmobile would stop,’’ says Jane Attina, who runs
the program. Soon those gathering places became
scheduled stops.

‘‘I had a dream back when we started all this that we’d
have a bookmobile just for the Amish,’’ says Attina.
‘‘We’d fill it with the things they like best, the westerns
and Hardy Boys and inspirational books — no videos or
audios. Maybe someday that will still happen.’’

August 22, 2000 by Bookmobiles 0

Need a bookmobile? Sell fake pigs!

Brian Smith sent in this link toPJStar.com which has a story on local fundraising efforts.

Peoria Public Library is selling fiberglas swine to local businesses, for the purpose of raising funds for a new bookmobile. Pigs will be decorated and displayed, a la the \”Cows on Parade\” in Chicago last year.

The 5-foot-long fiberglass replicas due Friday are destined for artistic expression as part of a Peoria Public Library fund-raiser for a new bookmobile. Under the Peoria Is Great (PIG) program, Friends of the Library have sold 16 of the porkers at $500 a pop to local businesses or organizations.

The buyers have engaged artists to thematically decorate the pigs, which will be displayed early next month at the offices of sponsors before being offered for sale.

Brian Smith sent in this link toPJStar.com which has a story on local fundraising efforts.

Peoria Public Library is selling fiberglas swine to local businesses, for the purpose of raising funds for a new bookmobile. Pigs will be decorated and displayed, a la the \”Cows on Parade\” in Chicago last year.

The 5-foot-long fiberglass replicas due Friday are destined for artistic expression as part of a Peoria Public Library fund-raiser for a new bookmobile. Under the Peoria Is Great (PIG) program, Friends of the Library have sold 16 of the porkers at $500 a pop to local businesses or organizations.

The buyers have engaged artists to thematically decorate the pigs, which will be displayed early next month at the offices of sponsors before being offered for sale.
Meanwhile, a similar fund- raiser would utilize some of the city\’s stockpile of scrapped GP Transit benches, but the offbeat plan needs City Council approval.


A new not-for-profit group, Arts Partners of Central Illinois Inc., tonight will ask the council to donate between 50 and 100 of the billboard-style benches that once sported leased advertisements across Peoria and Peoria Heights. The benches were yanked by the city last year after GP Transit decided to purchase lower-profile seats for riders.


No buyers came forward in a recent bid request, but Arts Partners board president Rebekah Bourland has pitched \”The Beautiful Bench Project.\”


Sponsors would pay the group $250 for a bench, then hire an artist to transform it. The works would be displayed along the riverfront this summer, then auctioned off.

March 29, 2000 by Bookmobiles 0

Library gets new bookmobile ready for service

Long live the bookmobile! Read this story Here. From the Kalamazoo Gazette.




The Kalamazoo Public Library bookmobile may be back on the road as early as next week.




\”We are loading up the new bookmobile right now,\” said
Terry Lason, head of loan-and-outreach services at the
Kalamazoo Public Library.

Long live the bookmobile! Read this story Here. From the Kalamazoo Gazette.




The Kalamazoo Public Library bookmobile may be back on the road as early as next week.




\”We are loading up the new bookmobile right now,\” said
Terry Lason, head of loan-and-outreach services at the
Kalamazoo Public Library.
Library staffers will hold a party at 2 p.m. March 26 to
celebrate the resumption of bookmobile service with a
$140,000 new vehicle purchased from Farber Speciality
Vehicles in Columbus, Ohio.




It will hold 4,000 items and include a cellular-phone
connection that will link a computer to the library\’s main
patron-and-material database. A second computer in the
vehicle will provide patrons access to basic reference
material.

March 16, 2000 by Bookmobiles 0

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