You might have fond memories of the Bookmobile from your childhood. You might have seen it out and about on the roads of Greene County. You may even have stopped in for a look around at a community festival. But have you ever wondered what it’s like to ride in it?
It’s a pretty nice ride, with an elevated view of the road and the other cars. It’s bigger and slower to accelerate than most cars, say the Bookmobile staff, but relatively easy to drive apart from that. Sometimes weather can make it tricky, though. “It’s hard to drive when it’s windy out, because the Bookmobile is like a billboard,” says Bookmobile Manager Stacy.
But you don’t need to worry about the 5,000 books the Bookmobile carries. Shelves in the Bookmobile each slant backwards slightly, which keeps the books from falling off the shelves on bumpy or curvy roads. The worst that will happen is a few books tipping over if many of the neighboring books on a shelf have been checked out.
Resetting those books is part of the flurry of activity that the Bookmobile crew carry out to get it ready for visitors. “When we get to a school, we have to plug the bus into the building so we can have light and heat,” notes Bookmobile Clerk Cameron. Bookmobile staff will also tidy up the shelves, set up the laptop they use to check books out, and prepare for classes to arrive.
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