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Budget cuts brings end to bookmobile

Photo by Jonathan Coleman

Ethan Solomon, 7, looks through books on the Cabarrus County Bookmobile while his sister, 5-year-old Eliza, and grandmother, Tamara, read one they picked out on Tuesday.

By Karen Cimino Wilson | Independent Tribune

Published: September 30, 2009

Nearly 70 years ago, the Cabarrus County Bookmobile started delivering books to rural folks as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's effort to rebuild the economy following the Great Depression.

Now, the recession and budget cuts will end the program, leaving some library customers saddened by the loss of community icon. The bookmobile will make its final stops on Oct. 9.

Carey Grey, 62, said he first boarded the bookmobile when he was about 10 years old in the 1950s. The bookmobile stopped at Bigger's Store on Albemarle Road then.

Grey, a retired Charlotte firefighter, said he didn't use the bookmobile for years, but started boarding it again after he retired and returned to the Midland area.

Tuesday, Grey boarded the bus in search of a new book that he'll have to return on the last day the bookmobile will stop at the Midland Hess Gas Station like it has every Tuesday from noon to 4 p.m. for several years.

"It's a shame they've got to do away with this," he said. "The closest I could get to a library is Harrisburg or Mount Pleasant."

That's about a 15-mile drive, he said.

"It's kind of hard to see it go," he said.

The Cabarrus County Bookmobile is a 1975 Ford F-800 bus that was retrofitted with specially designed shelves and two circulation desks to create a library on wheels.

It carries about 4,000 books to the schools, daycare centers, nursing homes and other community stops.

After 34 years of service, the bookmobile's condition is too poor to continue making rounds, according to county officials.

The bus breaks down occasionally, librarians said. Cabarrus County budgets already have been slashed this year because of the recession and reduced revenue coming into the county. Replacing the bus would be expensive, according to library officials.

In the beginning, the library's bookmobile served residents in rural areas who were unable to travel to the county's only library in downtown Concord.

There have been as many as three bookmobiles serving Cabarrus County residents simultaneously in the past.

As lifestyles have changed and as additional libraries have been built in Harrisburg, Kannapolis and Mount Pleasant, fewer county residents visit the library's bookmobile when it rolls into their community, according to the county.

There were 8,477 visits to the bookmobile last fiscal year as compared to 549,479 visits to the other libraries in the Cabarrus County Public Library system for the same time period, county statistics show.

But to the folks who use it, the bookmobile service remains invaluable, Grey said.

"As far as I'm concerned, there's a demand for it," Grey said as he checked out a copy of "The Blue Zone" by Andrew Gross.

Kathy Goodrich, one of the bookmobile drivers and librarians, said customers at the Midland stop are particularly upset because they're so far from a library branch.

"This stop is one that feels most hit and expressed more sadness because of their location and how they feel about the bus," Goodrich said.

As Grey finished checking out, Tamara Solomon of Kannapolis and her two grandchildren Ethan, 7, and Eliza, 5, who live in Midland, boarded the bookmobile.

Solomon said she baby sits her grandchildren and likes to go to the bookmobile now and then to pick out something to read to them. Eliza loves books about fairies and princesses and chose "The Fairyspotter Guide" by Lucy Loveheart and Magic Meg Tuesday. Ethan loves books about nature. Solomon said she hates to see the bookmobile end its routes.

"That is such a shame because this gets books to people who would be unable to get books otherwise," she said. "But I guess it's a sign of the times."

While the bookmobile will retire, the library will continue some of its outreach programs. Goodrich said she still has a job working for the library's outreach program.

"We have a van that we will use to continue to serve the homebound and those in nursing homes," said Dana Eure, the library director.

The van will be used as a courier service to get books to folks who can't get to a library.

Eure said the homebound are defined as those who are unable to leave their homes on a regular basis due to their own health condition or disability and who have no transportation in the household.

"We will not be able to continue to visit daycares and schools," Eure said. "However, many of the preschools and daycare facilities that were visited by the bookmobile are also visited by the Smart Start Mobile Resource Van, which allows teachers to borrow books and educational materials for their own professional development and for their classrooms."

Other facilities that serve children birth to 5 years old can contact the Mobile Resource Van at 704-786-1023 to be placed on a waiting list for services.

For more information about homebound services, call the County Public Library at 704-920-2050. For a list of library locations and services, log on to www.cabarruscounty.us/library.