A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle

Vehicle

A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....

 designed for use as a library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

. It is designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. It usually has enough space for people to sit and read books inside. Mobile libraries are often used to provide library services to villages and city suburbs that have no library buildings. They can also service groups of those who have difficulty accessing libraries, e.g., occupants of retirement homes. They may also carry other information or computer equipment. Some libraries also use their bookmobiles to deliver materials, such as audio books and large print novels, to homebound people who do not have anyone to go to the library for them.

History

The British Workman

The British Workman

The British Workman was a broadsheet, periodical published monthly in England by Partridge and Co in London] It was published between 1855 and 1892 with the aim to "promote the health, wealth and happiness of the working classes" .It was illustrated with contemporary engravings with some editions...

reported in 1857 on a perambulating library operating in a circle of eight villages in Cumbria, including Mealsgate, the birthplace of George Moore, the Victorian merchant and philanthropist who was the President of the Committee managing this Scheme designed to "diffuse good literature among the rural population". The Warrington Perambulating Library

Warrington Perambulating Library

The Warrington Perambulating Library has been described by historian Ian Orton as "one of the most revolutionary library advances of the nineteenth century". Among the earliest mobile libraries in the UK, it was set up by the Warrington Mechanics' Institute in Cheshire, England in 1858...

 set up in 1858 was another early British mobile library. This horse-drawn van was operated by the Warrington Mechanics' Institute, which was anxious to increase the borrowing of its books.

An early bookmobile in the United States was a mule-drawn wagon which carried wooden boxes of books in Chester County, SC. The People's Free Library started this service to the rural areas of Chester County around 1904.

Another early American bookmobile was developed by Mary Lemist Titcomb

Mary Lemist Titcomb

Mary Lemist Titcomb was an originator in Library and Information Science. In 1905 she founded the first bookmobile or mobile library in the USA.-Bibliography:Titcomb was born in Farmington, New Hampshire in 1857...

 (1857–1932). The librarian at the Washington County, Maryland

Washington County, Maryland

Washington County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering southern Pennsylvania to the north, northern Virginia to the south, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia to the south and west. As of the 2010 Census, its population is 147,430...

 Free Library, Titcomb was concerned that the library was not reaching all of the people it could. The annual report for 1902 lists "23 branches", collections of 50 books in a case placed in stores and post offices around the county.. Realizing this still failed to reach all of the county's rural residents, in 1905 the Washington County Free Library provided one of the first American book wagons to residents by taking the books directly to their homes in remote parts of the county.

The Gerstenslager

Gerstenslager

The Gerstenslager Company, a subsidiary of Worthington Industries, is a maker of past model body panels for several major auto makers. In the 1950s the company was best known for making large custom vehicles such as bookmobiles, canteens and mobile television units.-History:The company started in...

 company specialized in building mobile libraries and similar vehicles in the 1950s.

The Internet Archive Bookmobile prints out-of-copyright books on demand, and in whatever type size is desired. The project has spun off similar efforts elsewhere in the developing world.

To meet the growing demand for "greener" bookmobiles that deliver outreach services to their patrons, some bookmobile manufacturers have introduced significant advances that reduce carbon footprint such as solar/battery solutions over traditional generators, and all-electric and hybrid electric chassis.

Other mobile libraries

Bookmobiles are used in many countries, but a mobile library can be run without a vehicle. Examples include:

• A Camel Library Service in Kenya
  Kenya
  Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
  
  . This service which is funded by the Kenyan government and as a charity in Garissa
  Garissa
  Garissa is a city in the North Eastern Province of Kenya. It is the capital of both the province and Garissa District.-Overview:Garissa is located at and has a population of 65,881 inhabitants . The Tana River flows through the city....
  
   and Wajir
  Wajir
  Wajir is a town in the North Eastern Province of Kenya. It is the capital of Wajir County.-History:A cluster of cairns near Wajir are generally ascribed by the local inhabitants to the Madanle, a semi-legendary people of high stature, who are associated with the Somali Ajuuraan. A. T...
  
   near the border with Somalia. The service started with three camels in October 1996 and had twelve in 2006 delivering 7000 books, daily in English, Somali
  Somali language
  The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....
  
   and Swahili
  Swahili language
  Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
  
   This service has been used as a background for the novel "The Camel Bookmobile" by Masha Hamilton
  Masha Hamilton
  Masha Hamilton is a United States journalist and the author of several novels.Hamilton worked as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press for five years in the Middle East, where she covered the First Intifada, the peace process, and the partial Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon...
  
  .
• A donkey-drawn mobile library in Zimbabwe
  Zimbabwe
  Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
  
   is being used to not only deliver books, but also to deliver access to the internet and multimedia.
• The Biblioburro
  Biblioburro
  The Biblioburro is a traveling library that distributes books to patrons from the backs of two donkeys, Alfa and Beto. The program was created in La Gloria, Colombia by Luis Soriano...
  
  : another donkey-drawn travelling library in Colombia.
• The library ship
  Ship
  Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...
  
   Epos
  Epos library ship
  Epos is a floating library that operates in the counties of Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal in Norway. The service started in 1959 and visits tiny places in the three counties twice a year. In 2005 the ship was in service 126 days per year, lending 53,300 books.The ship has room for...
  
   serves many small communities in Western Norway.
• Elephant Libraries in Thailand
  Thailand
  Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
  
  . In Thailand, elephants are used to take books and IT equipment and services to remote villages with no other library service.

Further reading

• The Bookmobile: Defining the Information Poor An article on the history of the bookmobile in the US.
• Moore, Benita (1989) A Lancashire Year. Preston: Carnegie Publishing ("based on experiences while working on the Lancashire County Library mobile library service" in the 1960s)
• Stringer, Ian (2001) Britain's Mobile Libraries. TransPennine Publishing (ISBN 1903016150 52 pages 125 illustrations)
• Mobile Library Guidelines (2010) co-ordinated by Ian Stringer Publisher: IFLA
  International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
  The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions is the leading international association of library organisations. It is the global voice of the library and information profession, and its annual conference provides a venue for librarians to learn from one another...
  
  ISBN 978-90-77897-45-4 ISSN 0168-1931

External links

• Boston Public Library bookmobile, 1963