Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
May 15, 2008 issue
Story by Celeste von Mangan
Sylvia Archer has a job many people would covet—she drives scenic back roads for four of her five-day workweek. Children and adults clamor to her vehicle when they see her, and even dogs are friendly to her because they know she has dog biscuits to disperse along with her other cargo—books. Lots of books. So many, that her vehicle weighs 17,000 pounds when fully loaded with reading materials. As the only bookmobile employee for the Avery County Morrison Library, Archer is busy but happy with her work because it is so fulfilling.
“It is a wonderful job,” she said. “It’s pretty cool. I drive little one lane gravel roads—wherever anybody needs me and I can turn around.”
The bookmobile is the size of a small school bus and it was purchased several years ago to serve residents in Avery, Mitchell and Yancey counties. The program is funded with grants and partly through the counties and the state.
“The service is available for anyone who lives in one of the three counties—Avery, Mitchell or Yancey—and they have to live at least five miles from a library,” said Archer. “In the case of daycare centers and schools, the criterion is, if the daycare does not have enough transportation for the children to go to the libraries, then the bookmobile goes to them.”
Director Daniel Barren picks out some of the books that ride the mobile, the children’s librarian picks out some and Archer chooses the rest of them. As to date, there are 17 different runs and Archer is a full-time bookmobile librarian and driver.
“It’s all I do,” she said. “It’s always neat around Christmas because everyone gives you presents. And on my runs, people bring their dogs on the bookmobile. I give them dog biscuits.”
The bookmobile operates Monday through Thursday no matter what the weather is, with each stop garnering a monthly visit from Archer.
“If there’s no school, I don’t go out,” she said. “The bookmobile does not have four-wheel drive.”
Always popular with her patrons, Archer has had as many as 13 people on the bus at one time.
Besides the bookmobile, an outreach program through the Avery County Morrison Library offers large-print books to elderly homebound people.
People who use and love the bookmobile are starting to ask if the service will continue to operate despite soaring gas prices.
“Our director says that the bookmobile will always run,” said Archer.
For more information, call 828-682-4476.
Ashe and Western Watauga Branch Library Also Offer Outreach
“We do not have a bookmobile per se, but we do have an outreach service for homebound people,” said Jim McQueen, county librarian of Ashe. “We deliver books to people who are disabled or ill, or those who are unable to get out of their homes for some reason. It’s one of our most appreciated services and I would say, one of our most valuable ones. The outreach service is the only means many people have for getting books.”
A Ford Escape all-wheel drive is the vehicle that holds the library materials delivered to the homebound every Wednesday—some 800 books per month—by part-time library employee Janis DeDord. On bookmobile day, DeDord brings the books to her clients as they eagerly await her arrival.
“They are very glad to see our outreach person,” said McQueen. “She is providing a very important service to people. This is all she does at the library. Janis has established a lot of trust and people invite her in to their home. In most cases, she selects the books for them because she knows what they want.”
Outreach is a bit different then the bookmobile. Instead of delivering an entire collection for patrons to browse and choose from, the outreach caters to a smaller and more select clientele and therefore carries a smaller and more selective collection of books.
Outreach is complimentary to the bookmobile but not exactly the same,” said McQueen. “We used to have a bookmobile and I would one day hope to have that again. A bookmobile is very expensive; though I would not rule that out one day.”
At the Western Watauga Branch Library, Manager Jackie Cornette runs the outreach service, driving to each of her homebound patrons once per month on Fridays.
“The service is for the homebound only, any age really, but they are homebound because of illness, physical disability or because they are elderly,” said Cornette. “I take materials to different area individuals and they keep the books for a one month period. They can also choose audio on tape and some videos.”
Daycare centers, nursing homes and schools are also on Cornette’s Friday outreach itinerary, and at any stop, she might decide to show a movie, tell a story or even perform a puppet show for children and adults.
For more information about the Ashe Public Library outreach service, call 336-846-2041. For more information about the Western Watauga Branch Library outreach service, call 828-297-5515.