Over a year ago the Owen County Public Library began an “Every
Child Ready to Read” program sponsored from Grants provided by the Owen County
Community Foundation and the Smithville Charitable Foundation. Library employees were traveling in personal
vehicles to the Cunot Community Center, Gosport and Patricksburg Elementary,
and the Coal City Community Center, with a small compliment of books and other
media. This service was made available the first and third Wednesdays of each
month. In a small way this allowed library users of all ages to take part in
childrens programming and to take out material of all kinds. After doing this
for a year, it became clear that there was a need and desire for much more of
this service across the county.
It has become obvious that a single permanent branch
location will only help a small percentage of taxpayers in the county, where a
mobile branch that can modify its inventory weekly or daily according to the
direct input from patrons will reach a much larger audience.
Having said that, Owen County Public Library is proud to announce the arrival
of its new branch, a library branch with wheels.
The Library will be receiving its Bookmobile early in
September, and plans to have it fully operational and running routes throughout
Owen County by the first of October. It will give residents all around the
county the opportunity to use the Library’s services much closer to their own
homes.
In the current economic climate Owen County Residents will
utilize the library more to take out material, instead of making unnecessary purchases
for entertainment, education and the internet.
Our new mobile branch was purchased with existing funds. It
is money that was saved for the purpose of expanding our services throughout
the county. The purchase of the bookmobile will not force any kind of tax
increase onto Owen County residents.
The twenty four foot van is handicap accessible and it will
carry as much as 2500 items in its inventory. It will provide a mobile 4G Wi-Fi
hotspot free for public use and could be used as a mobile classroom for
computer classes.
Here are some picture from the building process. It is being built for us by Meridian Specialty Vehicles in Bozeman, Montana and it will be wrapped locally by Winner's Circle, here in Spencer.
Come see us at the Apple Butter festival for a full tour and more information.
