By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
When Wood County District Public Library’s new bookmobile pulled up Tuesday at Cedar Park Apartments in Bowling Green, at least one senior citizen there felt like she had hit the jackpot.
“She was so excited she checked out 32 books. She said it was like Christmas to her,” said Lauren Canaday Johnson, the library’s bookmobile and outreach coordinator. The woman has mobility issues and can’t get to the brick and mortar library.
That’s where the bookmobile comes in – connecting people with books, movies, audiobooks and magazines that they otherwise don’t have access to. It makes regular stops at schools, daycares, nursing homes and small towns.
The shelves are shared by classics like “Romeo and Juliet,” “Goodnight Moon” and “Curious George” adventures – and the lesser known “Why Do Pigs Like Mud,” “My Librarian is a Camel,” and “The Monster Princess.”
“It’s awesome. It’s my greatest passion in life to make sure everyone has access to materials they want for education and for fun,” Canaday Johnson said. “It’s especially exciting when it’s someone who can’t make it to the library.”
The new bookmobile is helping to make those connections to more places in Wood County.
“The beauty of this is we have much more opportunity to be on the road more now,” said Ken Frisch, president of the library board of trustees.
This new custom-made vehicle runs on gas. The previous bookmobile used compressed natural gas, which at the time of its purchase was considered a fuel of the future. The bookmobile needed to come back to Bowling Green for refueling, which greatly limited its range.
Canaday Johnson used to have to do calculations to make sure she could get back to BG after stops in rural areas of the county. Now all she has to do is find a gas station and fill her up.
“We can go more places,” Frisch said. “We can go to the northern part of the county in the morning and the southern part of the county in the afternoon.”
And that means the bookmobile can nearly double its stops in the county from 10 to 19 a month. Newly added bookmobile stops are located on Parkview Drive and Cedar Park Apartments in Bowling Green, in Moline, and in Brentwood Park and Chantilly Rue in Northwood.
Visits to other locations have been resumed with the new vehicle, including near the post offices in Bradner and Risingsun, on Main Street in Haskins, on Broad Street in Tontogany, and at the office of Troy Villa Mobile Home Park.
“I’m really excited about all the new stops,” Canaday Johnson said.
The new $210,000 bookmobile is a mini library on wheels. It carries more than 1,000 reading materials for all ages and abilities, and has public wifi – which is in demand in several rural areas of the county.
“It is a fully functional library,” she said.
The vehicle is a little smaller than the last bookmobile, but it makes better use of space, allowing it to hold more materials while being roomier for patrons. Since anyone borrowing books is required to have a library card, the vehicle is equipped to offer those.
As the person driving the bookmobile through the county, Canaday Johnson is also thrilled with the new cameras aiding with backing up and showing blindspots when changing lanes.
It is air conditioned, and has a wheelchair lift – which the previous vehicle did not have. The lift not only makes the library on wheels more accessible to patrons, but it also makes loading books and other materials more safe for library employees, Frisch said.
Canaday Johnson knows that bookmobile patrons have a wide variety of preferences.
“I make sure I’m pretty well stocked,” she said. “I go to schools and they want a hundred items sometimes.”
“I try to get a variety,” she said, knowing that in small towns like Hoytville, there may only be eight “regulars” who show up, but they have varying interests.
There are books for children, youths and adults, telling stories with illustrations, regular print, large print and audio. There are free coloring books and crayons for kids.
For adults there are mysteries, inspirational books, science fiction and romance. There are how-to books on learning sign language, how to knit, cooking church potluck favorites, and learning English for Spanish speakers.
For children, the hot items right now are non-fiction books about animals, graphic novels, and always picture books for the youngest.
The public is invited to a ribbon cutting for the new bookmobile on Friday, May 24, at 10 a.m. in the Bowling Green library parking lot with remarks from WCDPL Director Michael Penrod. From 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., staff will give tours of the new bookmobile to families and guests. All ages are invited to partake in craft stations, including a folding paper craft to build mini bookmobiles (while supplies last).
