Booker's fate determined by bookmobile survey

Mary Lemist Titcomb wanted to expand library services outside the main location where she served as the first librarian at the Washington County Free Library in 1905. In the largely rural area of Hagerstown, Maryland, she saw the need to provide access to materials to the homes of people who could not make it to the library regularly. Beginning with outreach to outlying businesses and community gathering places, she eventually conceptualized a horse-drawn “library wagon” that later became the first mobile library service. In 1912, the county aqcuired its first motorized bookmobile.

Flash forward to 2018. The Bookmobile is a regular feature in our community and many others across the country. But, have the internet, digital materials, and public transportation made the Bookmobile obsolete?

For years, “Booker” has made regular visits to six locations in the East Bonner County Library District, usually parking for several hours so that patrons could browse the selection, pick up holds they’d placed online, sign up for library cards, and consult with library staff. In recent years, we have noticed some changing trends including less visitor traffic to Bookmobile stops.

The Bookmobile itself has had major mechanical problems over the past year, making the service unreliable and eventually unavailable. A couple of months ago, we started taking the library van to the scheduled Bookmobile locations so that people could pick up materials they had placed on hold, but other services like library card registrations and browsing were limited. For a variety of reasons, this arrangement proved impractical and was discontinued.

The Book-mobile is an offical branch library for our district. We believe that there is a need to serve the rural patrons of Bonner County, and we want to ensure that we make those services available in the locations, times, durations, and formats that will be most useful for patrons. To that end, we are conducting an online survey. Everyone is encouraged to participate, whether or not you have ever visited the Bookmobile. You can access the eight-question survey on the home page of our website at ebonnerlibrary.org. The survey will close on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

We hope to gain an accurate understanding of how people use the Bookmobile and if there are additional stops and services that would enable more people to use it. Your responses will help us to determine whether to utlize the traditional Bookmobile or a different kind of vehicle that will accomodate changing usage trends. Who knows, maybe that will be a horse-drawn “library wagon.”

Please take a moment now to weigh in on the future of the Bookmobile. This online survey is designed to allow for one survey per IP address. This eliminates duplicate entries. In theory, it also means that once someone takes the survey using The Library’s internet, others may be restricted from taking it. Let us know if that happens to you and we will try to work out another solution.

- Friday, July 27 — National Teen Library Lock-in & Nerf Battle, 8 p.m. to 9 a.m., Saturday, July 28 at the Sandpoint branch. A night of fun and games with teens from libraries across the country! Author chats, Minute to Win It games, Nerf battle, good tunes and more. Stay the night and have pancakes in the morning. Bring a Nerf gun and ammo, PJs, sleeping bag, and pillow. Preregistration is required. Sorry, no drop-ins. A Libraries Rock 2018 Teen Summer Reading program ebonnerlibrary.org. Info/register: 208-263-6930, ext. 1245, or morgan@ebonnerlibrary.org.

- Saturday, July 28 — Little Mozarts Music Class Series, 10:30 a.m. at the Sandpoint Branch. Music Conservatory of Sandpoint’s Michelle Handy leads an in-progress music class for kids. Information: 208-263-6930 ext. 1211.

- Saturday, July 28 — Organic Seed Saving, 1 p.m. at the Sandpoint branch. Come and discuss organic gardening and seed saving. Bring food and seeds to share if you can. If you can’t, come anyway! Information: 208-265-2665.

- Monday, July 30 — Monday Madness: Readers’ Theater, 10:30 a.m. at the Sandpoint branch. Act with us! A Libraries Rock 2018 Summer Reading program ebonnerlibrary.org. Information: 208-263-6930, ext. 1211, or suzanne@ebonnerlibrary.org.

- Tuesday, July 31 — Mother Goose in the Park, 10:15 a.m. at Travers Park, 2100 Pine St. The Library’s Story Times have moved to Travers Park for the month of July! Stories and singing for babies and toddlers 0-3 years and their caregivers. Information: 208-263-6930, ext. 1211, or suzanne@ebonnerlibrary.org.

- Tuesday, July 31 — Family Story Time in the Park, 11 a.m. at Travers Park, 2100 Pine St. The Library’s Story Times have moved to Travers Park for the month of July! Stories and crafts for kids and their caregivers. Information: 208-263-6930 ext. 1211 or suzanne@ebonnerlibrary.org.

- Tuesday, July 31 — Red Yarn Folk Music & Puppetry, 6 p.m. at the Sandpoint branch. Red Yarn Folksongs & Puppetry for Families is a production based in Portland, Ore. They accompany their family-friendly music with puppets. It is going to be a fantastic show — redyarnproductions.com. A Libraries Rock 2018 Summer Reading program ebonnerlibrary.org. Information: 208-263-6930 ext. 1211 or suzanne@ebonnerlibrary.org.

- Thursday, Aug. 2 — The Library’s STEM in the Park Series, 1 p.m. at Travers Park Pavillion, 2100 Pine St. A variety of science, tech, engineering, and math projects geared for kids ages 8-11, but all welcome. A Libraries Rock 2018 Summer Reading program ebonnerlibrary.org. Information: 208-263-6930 ext. 1211 or suzanne@ebonnerlibrary.org.

- Libraries Rock Summer Reading Program. Log your reading to earn badges, win prizes, and stay sharp over the summer. Summer Reading is online this year (print logs are available, too). Register at ebonnerlibrary.beanstack.org to record your reading and read-to-me books. Meet your friends at Libraries Rock workshops and events all summer long. Details at ebonnerlibrary.org.

- StoryWalk — Pages from a children’s book are posted along a trail for a fun, family experience. Enjoy “Searcher and the Old Tree” by David McPhail at McNearnry Park and “Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads” by Bob Shea at Dover City Park. Read, connect, & get outside at a StoryWalk, a partnership of the library, Kaniksu Land Trust, city of Dover, and city of Ponderay. For more information, visit ebonnerlibrary.org or call Suzanne Davis 208-263-6930 ext. 1211 or suzanne@ebonnerlibrary.org.

Marcy Timblin is in charge of public relations, marketing and community development for the East Bonner County Library District. She can be reached at 208-208-208-263-6930, ext. 1204.