bookmobile - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T10:35:48Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/bookmobileSouth Palm Beach: First mobile library was horse-drawnhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-first-mobile-library-was-horse-drawn2019-10-02T17:01:34.000Z2019-10-02T17:01:34.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960892482,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960892482,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960892482?profile=original" /></a><em>The county bookmobile has a scrapbook that shows the first bookmobile in America, in 1905. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Ron Hayes</strong></p>
<p>If you ever visit a bookmobile, spare a moment to remember the woman who first inspired them. Her name was Mary Lemist Titcomb, and in 1905 she was the head librarian at the Washington County Free Library in Hagerstown, Maryland.<br /> “Would not a library wagon, the outward and visible signs of the service for which the library stood, do much more in cementing friendship?” Titcomb once said. “No better method has ever been devised for reaching the dweller in the country. The book goes to the man, not waiting for the man to come to the book.”<br /> At her urging, the library’s trustees got Andrew Carnegie to give them $2,500, and America’s first “library wagon” hit the road.<br /> Its 2,560 books were drawn by a horse and driven by Joshua Thomas, the library’s janitor.<br /> Alas, in 1910 a freight train struck the wagon. Both janitor and horse were unharmed, but the wagon was destroyed and the book service was out of commission for a year, until the board’s treasurer donated another $2,500 for a replacement.<br /> The Hagerstown library’s new library wagon was an International Harvester truck, and the age of the motorized bookmobile had arrived.<br /> Titcomb died in 1932 at the age of 80 and is buried at the famed Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts, not far from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau, whose books she no doubt made available to rural readers.</p></div>South Palm Beach: Roadworthy, readworthy: 50 years of bookmobilehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-roadworthy-readworthy-50-years-of-bookmobile2019-10-02T17:00:00.000Z2019-10-02T17:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960903287,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960903287,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960903287?profile=original" /></a><em>Mike Cavanaugh enters the bookmobile in South Palm Beach, where it stops on Fridays. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Related Story: First <a href="https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/south-palm-beach-first-mobile-library-was-horse-drawn" target="_blank">mobile library</a> was horse-drawn</strong></p>
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<p><strong>By Ron Hayes</strong></p>
<p>On April 15, 1969, the Palm Beach County Commission met to buy a bookmobile.<br /> If the commission approved the contract, this bookmobile would be built by the Gerstenslager Co. of Wooster, Ohio, would arrive within 90 days and would cost the taxpayers $30,500.90.<br /> Four of the five commissioners were on board. Commissioner Robert F. Culpepper of Jupiter wasn’t. <br /> “I’m not voting against the bookmobile,” he announced. “I’m voting against the expensive bookmobile.”<br /> “There’s no such thing as an inexpensive bookmobile,” Commissioner E.W. Weaver told him after the vote.<br /> “Well,” Culpepper said, “I just hope it will be used.”<br /> The Palm Beach County Library System’s first bookmobile hit the road 50 years ago this month, in October 1969. Commissioner Culpepper could visit the South Palm Beach Town Hall any Friday morning to see how much it’s being used today.<br /> The bookmobile stops at 40 locations throughout Palm Beach County, and little South Palm Beach is one of only two stops that’s so busy it visits every week instead of twice a month. The other is Palm Beach Shores.<br /> From October 2018 to July 2019, bookmobile visitors checked out 50,000 items at those 40 stops. But the South Palm Beach stop alone accounted for just over 5,000 items checked out, or 10 percent of the bookmobile’s total circulation during that 10-month period.<br /> “It’s still our busiest stop,” says Ron Glass, the county’s outreach librarian.<br /> South Palm Beach and the bookmobile are such good friends that on Feb. 8 Town Clerk Yude Alvarez organized a small celebration at Town Hall to mark the 50th anniversary.<br /> Tables were set up in the fire bay, and the bookmobile’s staff and local book lovers enjoyed iced tea and juices, cookies, cupcakes, muffins and scones as music played. <br /> Drop by in January and the narrow space between the shelves can get so packed with book lovers browsing and condo neighbors chatting, you might have a wait to get in.<br /> Drop by on a Friday morning in August, and the crowd is smaller, but no less enthusiastic.<br /> “Without this mobile library, we wouldn’t be here,” says Daniel Colangelo, waiting to check out All The Way, Joe Namath’s latest football memoir. “We appreciate it so much. And the staff! They’re all great.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960903094,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960903094,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960903094?profile=original" /></a><em><strong>ABOVE</strong>: Palm Beach resident Gladys Jacobson looks through the movie selection as Michael Barto, the bookmobile driver of 26 years, helps South Palm Beach’s Mike Cavanaugh check out books. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em><br /> <em><strong>BELOW</strong>: The original 1969 Palm Beach County bookmobile.</em></p>
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<p><br /> The bookmobile arrives at the Town Hall each week bearing about 2,000 items — 1,500 books and another 500 DVDs and music or talking-book CDs. The bookmobile even carries a birding kit available for checkout. That’s a backpack, adult binoculars, children’s binoculars, lens cleaner and a laminated pamphlet for identifying species.<br /> But to regular users, the bookmobile’s most valuable asset is the staff.<br /> Library Associate Jennifer Busch has been with the library for 19 years. Michael Barto has driven the bookmobile for 26. Twelve years ago, he learned American Sign Language to serve deaf patrons. And mechanic/multilinguist Francisco Navarro is along in case the great book beast breaks down and to assist Spanish speakers.<br /> Kristen Farley of South Palm Beach brings her three kids.<br /> “I always brag that I’ve never chosen a book for myself,” she says. “They know what I like, and they choose for the kids, too.”<br /> It’s common praise.<br /> “If they see something they think I’d like, they set it aside for me,” says Gladys Jacobson of Palm Beach. “I’m absolutely amazed at how they can select books for readers.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Small towns were concern</strong></span><br /> The bookmobile’s arrival at those 40 stops throughout the county comes at the end of a long road that began with a book lover who saw a problem she wanted fixed.<br /> Her name was Ingrid A. Eckler, a member of the West Palm Beach League of Women Voters, and she was concerned about all those residents who weren’t being reached by the independent municipal libraries in the county’s larger cities. In 1964, Eckler and her fellow Women Voters started agitating the County Commission to create a countywide library service, and in April 1967, the state Legislature created a special taxing district and the county library system was born.<br /> The first branch library opened in Tequesta in September 1969.<br /> In October 1969, that $30,500.90 bookmobile made its first stops at Canal Point and South Bay on Lake Okeechobee, Lake Worth Road by Florida’s Turnpike and the city of Atlantis.<br /> The South Palm Beach stop arrived in 1982. In 2013, the bookmobile added a stop in Ocean Ridge, but it didn’t attract many borrowers.<br /> “It lasted one year,” Ron Glass says, “then we went right down the street to Briny Breezes, and it does real well, especially in season.”<br /> But it’s no match for South Palm Beach.<br /> “The bookmobile is No. 1!”<br /> Inalee Foldes is hugging a new biography of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. She’s already read the lives of justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O’Connor. “Mike knows what I like,” she explains, referring to Barto. “This is the first place you come after you’ve been away.”<br /> Today’s bookmobile is not the same one the County Commission bought in April 1969. That one was retired in 1977.<br /> This current model is the sixth bookmobile to serve the county in the five decades since, and it didn’t cost $30,500.90.<br /> Its price tag: $245,000.<br /> But it didn’t cost taxpayers anything.<br /> Look closely at the rear of the bookmobile on the driver’s side and you’ll find, beneath the brightly painted books and lettering, a small rendering of a black fireman’s helmet bearing the message, “FDNY 343.”<br /> “An anonymous donor paid for this bookmobile,” Jennifer Busch says. “We don’t know who it was, but he or she requested only that it feature a fireman’s helmet somewhere on the outside and the number 343, the number of firefighters who died in New York on 9/11.”<br /> Ingrid A. Eckler, first president of the Friends of the Library and a member of its advisory board for 21 years, died in 1998 at age 85.<br /> Culpepper, the only county commissioner to vote against spending $30,500.90 for that first bookmobile, is alive and well at 87, still living in Jupiter, and still happy to chat.<br /> “That $30,000 was a lot of money back then,” he says. “As I said, I didn’t vote against the bookmobile. I voted against the price. But coming from Jupiter, we had no library branch then and the only service we had was the bookmobile, so I was always a strong supporter.”<br /> Then he got on his computer and found an inflation calculator. <br /> “You know,” he said. “That $30,000 in 1969 would be the equivalent of $210,000 today. So if the county were going to pay $245,000 for the new one, that’s $35,000 more.” <br /> The former county commissioner from Jupiter thought a moment and laughed. <br /> “I might vote against it again.”</p>
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<p><span style="font-size:18pt;"><strong>About the bookmobile</strong></span><br /> The Palm Beach County Bookmobile stops at the South Palm Beach Town Hall every Friday from 10:30 to noon.<br /> In Briny Breezes, it stops on alternate Fridays from 1:30-2:30 p.m. The upcoming dates are Oct. 11 and 25.<br /> You can request up to four items a week by calling 649-5476. If the staff is unavailable, leave a message and your call will be returned.<br /> Library cards are also available on the bookmobile.<br /> For more information, visit <a href="http://www.pbclibrary.org">www.pbclibrary.org</a>.</p></div>Ocean Ridge: Bookmobile’s new stop serves Ocean Ridge bookwormshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-bookmobile-s-new-stop-serves-ocean-ridge-bookworms2013-12-04T21:31:27.000Z2013-12-04T21:31:27.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960482497,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960482497,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="360" alt="7960482497?profile=original" /></a></strong><em>Ocean Ridge Police Department officer Nubia Savino looks through books inside the Palm Beach County Bookmobile as it is parked outside of Ocean Ridge Town Hall. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Ron Hayes</strong><br /><br /> The Palm Beach County Bookmobile arrived promptly at 1 p.m. Nov. 8, for its debut appearance at Ocean Ridge Town Hall.<br /> Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi himself came outside to guide the snorting behemoth around the traffic circle to a comfortable spot beyond the parking spaces.<br /> Outreach Librarian Ron Glass set up the orange traffic cones.<br /> Library Associate Patricia Lane booted up her circulation laptop.<br /> And they waited.<br />“I always target the municipalities that pay the county library tax but don’t have a physical branch facility,” Glass explained. “Usually that’s the smaller towns along the coast or inland.”<br /> Lake Clarke Shores is a stop. Palm Beach Shores Town Hall. Juno Beach Town Hall.<br /> Of the bookmobile’s 43 stops, South Palm Beach Town Hall is the busiest.<br /> And now, Ocean Ridge.<br /> Every other Friday for at least the next year, the bookmobile will stop by from 1-1:45 p.m.<br /> “Every six months, we evaluate the schedule by the number of visitors and items checked out. We need an average of 15 checkouts per visit to continue after a year,” Glass said while he waited for a first visitor.<br /> One stop that didn’t make the cut was Ocean Cay Park in Juno Beach.<br /> “I sent about 100 fliers out to all the local housing associations and condos, but it just never took off,” he said.<br /> The collection totals about 3,000 items, of which half are onboard the 44-foot bookmobile at any one time: books, both regular and large-print, plus audio books, music CDs and DVDs.<br /> The selection is not voluminous, but it’s varied. Glass can order up to 800 items a month, and as the librarians become familiar with borrowers’ tastes, they try to provide more personalized service.<br /> “Our clients tend to like romance, mysteries and biography,” he said. “I have no idea why, but Stephen King doesn’t do well on the bookmobile. People like John Grisham, Danielle Steel and, of course, James Patterson.”<br /> To have an item delivered to the bookmobile, simply call 649-5476 or go online at pbclibrary.org and order using your library card PIN. If you don’t have a card, bring your driver license, voter registration or utility bill and they’ll give you one.<br /> “Most items arrive within two weeks at the latest,” Glass said, “as long as it’s not a new book that a lot of people have reserved.”<br /> Anyone with a county library card can drop by and check out items.<br /> “I have a woman who orders nothing but audio books,” he said. “She lives in Pahokee and commutes to work in South Palm Beach.” <br /> And they waited.<br /> After perhaps 15 minutes, an older gentleman stuck his head in the door.<br /> “How long you going to be here?” he asked.<br /> “Until 1:45.”<br /> “I’ll be back.”<br /> He didn’t come back, and no one else showed up, either.<br /> Glass and Lane waited until 1:50 p.m., then put the traffic cones and laptop away.<br /> They left with the same 1,500 items on board when they arrived. But they were not discouraged.<br /> “Our goal is to promote this service,” Glass said, “so we’re not going to just sit here. We’ll put a sandwich board out by the road next time, and I’ll send out some fliers.<br /> “It’ll pick up in season.”<br /> In fact, it picked up the next time the bookmobile was in town.<br /> On Nov. 22, Deputy Clerk Jean Hallahan slipped away from her desk long enough to check out <em>Eight Days To Live</em>, a thriller, and T<em>he Man From Stone Creek</em>, a Western romance.<br /> And then Officer Nubia Savino from the Police Department showed up.<br />“Do you have any vampire books?” she asked as she skimmed the shelves. “I like vampires, werewolves and romance.”<br /> She settled on a fantasy called <em>The Gate Thief</em>, by Orson Scott Card. </p></div>