A Day in the Life of the Bookmobile

By Julita Fenneuff | Administrative Assistant

We start our day loading the Bookmobile — lovingly nicknamed “The Rig” by its operators — with the appropriate cart of books for our scheduled visits. Today, we have a Bright Beginnings playgroup, followed by a lobby stop at the Wyoming Senior Center and we’ll finish the day at Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center. The Bookmobile stays stocked with books for all ages, but since we’re going inside at the Senior Center, we use the lift on the back of the vehicle to load a cart of large print adult books onto the rig.

Caleb drives us to Kent City Elementary, where we park outside and get the Bookmobile ready for action. This includes setting up our laptops so that we can check out books to patrons, turning on the heater and straightening the shelves. Before we’re open for business, we head inside to join the little ones and their parents for the last segment of playtime. Playgroup leader Marlene gathers us all into a circle, where we get to do everyone’s favorite part of the morning: our song! Caleb, Emily and Marlene lead the group in “Apples and Bananas,” a classic that helps our kiddos practice their vowels. Caleb plays his ukulele while Emily and Marlene get the kids going. After the song, it’s book and snack time. The young ones chomp on their goldfish while Marlene reads Alphabuddies: G Is First!  We all chuckle over the last page when the number three asks to be included in the alphabet song.

Once storytime is over, we encourage everyone to visit us out in the Bookmobile, and they do! Emily and Caleb help patrons find the exact books they’re looking for. The shelves on the Bookmobile are organized by height and age, so the little ones check out the bottom shelves while their adults browse the top shelves. A cool new book drop has just been brought on board, and it’s a hit — so is the new rug with a road pattern on it! One little boy walks in circles, following the road, and we have a flash of inspiration: miniature Bookmobiles that the kids can drive down the roads. That will get added to the list of things we can’t wait to try out for the kids to have fun with.

After Bright Beginnings, it’s time to head over to the Wyoming Senior Center. This visit is a lobby stop, so we get to take a break from being out in the cold. We use the lift to get the cart of large print books down, then haul it into the building and set up a folding table with a quick little book display and copies of BookPage and KDL’s Kaleidoscope. It’s nice and relaxing in here, and we sit back as the seniors stop by to check out what we’ve got. One woman exclaims, “I love this author!” and exchanges her recently finished book for a new one. We listen to the sounds of the bingo game going on in the other room. It sounds serious. The smells of lunch from the cafeteria waft over to us and we start to get hungry, which only means one thing on Tuesdays on the Bookmobile... It’s tamales time!

We scoot on down the road and get our tamales meal (well, Emily gets tacos, but they look delicious so we let it slide). Lunch is spent devouring our meals and agonizing over the day’s New York Times Connections puzzle. Don’t bring up the blue category from the Connections of January 6... It’s still a sore subject. Once our egos are sufficiently bruised (and several grievances over the cursed blue category are aired), we hop back onto the rig for the last visit of the day. 

Emily drives us over to Godfrey-Lee ECC, and we do our song and dance again. Laptops: on. Heater: blasting. Doors: open. We’re ready for patrons! They flood in once school lets out, excited to see what new books we have to offer. Caleb and Emily catch up with the kids, who don’t have much to report about their winter break, other than the fact that they didn’t sleep much. Winter break is prized playing time, and they have to make the most of every minute.

We get to see the new shelving in action once again, patting ourselves on the back as we watch the students and their adults checking out the books for their respective ages — at their respective heights, of course. Emily points out the new Dog Man books more than once. This is our busiest time of the day, and the Bookmobile is just bustling with readers who are eager to find their new favorite book.

Once everyone clears out of the Bookmobile, it’s time for us to head back to the Service Center. We manage to merge onto the highway in the midst of bumper-to-bumper traffic and make it back safe and sound. Hannah M. and Hannah L. are there to greet us when we return, eager to hear about today’s turnout and how our regulars are doing. Hannah M. already has her ukulele out, ready to show us the new English and Spanish storytime songs she’s been practicing.

Already, the team is discussing their next visits and improvements they can make for upcoming stops.