Residents of rural communities surrounding Yakima Valley are booking it to the new bookmobile that will deliver books, tablets, and more to otherwise underserved areas.
Rural areas tend to lack public libraries due to several factors including lack of funding, lack of staffing, location, and population decline, but as all of us bibliophiles and avid library goers know, public libraries provide crucial services including but not limited to community connection, infrastructure, and digital resources. One possible solution? The addition of a bookmobile.
Residents of Yakima Valley, Washington are celebrating the return of their bookmobile that is providing a number of resources including books, tablets, and so much more.
Bookmobiling: A Brief History
While a bookmobile may sound like a modern solution to an age-old problem, this concept is anything but modern to Yakima Valley. The first bookmobile, a Chevy delivery van, dates back to 1941, then by 1952, the Yakima Valley Regional Valley had three bookmobiles to serve residents throughout the country.
According to Sherrie Prentice, YVL technical service and outreach manager, those three bookmobiles outperformed the 12 brick-and-mortar library branches in the early-mid 1950s. Due to their success, the local library district continued to utilize the bookmobile program throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s, ultimately ending in 1998. The board recognized that there is still a need to provide library services to rural and underserved communities today, so they opted to revive the program to better serve the area.
Bookmobile Specs
The new bookmobile is a whopping 29-foot-long RV with chargeable lithium batteries and a backup generator to power the climate-controlled library.
At max capacity, the bookmobile can hold 3,000 library items including books, DVDs, education kits, learning tablets, and museum passes. When it comes to the written word, the bookmobile contains children’s books in English and Spanish, as well as adult-oriented books. Patrons will also find a computer workstation, a printer, WiFi, and a wheelchair ramp making the bookmobile handicap accessible.
Join our community of 1.5M readers
Like this story? You’ll love our weekly newsletter.
Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter.
Oops. Something went wrong. Please try again later.
Migz
Victoria Lewis
Victoria is a freelance writer, dog lover, and coffee enthusiast living with her husband and dog in a small town in Kansas. Surrounded by an expansive to-be-read pile, she spends her time either deeply engrossed in a book or listening to one. As a fervent supporter of both bookstores and public libraries, Victoria enjoys sharing her latest reads on social media, connecting with fellow bibliophiles, and diligently updating her Goodreads profile.
