The bookmobile of the Ottawa Public Library

Waukegan Public Library bookmobile, Waukegan, Illinois. The Ottawa Public Library (OPL is the Library system of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Artwork by Paul Rhyne.

A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. Vehicles, derived from the Latin word vehiculum, are non-living Means of transport. A library is a collection of information sources resources and services and the structure in which it is housed it is organized for use and maintained by a public body an institution They are designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. They usually have sufficient space that people can also sit and read books inside them. Mobile libraries are often used to provide library services to villages and city suburbs without library buildings. They also service those who have difficulty accessing libraries, with retirement homes being common stops. They may also carry other information or computer equipment, such as might be found in a library. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. Some libraries also use their bookmobiles to deliver materials, such as audio books and large print novels, to homebound patrons who don't have anyone to go to the library for them.

The first Bookmobile in the United States was developed by Mary Lemist Titcomb^[1] (1857-1932). Mary Lemist Titcomb (1857-1932 was a thought leader in Library and Information Science. While employed at the Washington County, Maryland Free Library, Titcomb was concerned that the library was not reaching all of the people it could. Washington County is a County located in the western part of the U So, she worked on a plan for a book wagon. In 1905 the Washington County Free Library provided the first book wagon in the nation to residents by taking the books directly to their homes in remote parts of the county. ^[2]

The Gerstenslager company specialized in building mobile libraries and similar vehicles in the 1950s. The Gerstenslager Company, a subsidiary of Worthington Industries, is a maker of past model Body panels for several major auto makers

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. The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north Somalia to the northeast Tanzania to the south This service which is funded by the Kenyan government and as a charity in Garissa and Wajir near the border with Somalia. Garissa is a city in North Eastern Province, Kenya. It is the capital of the province and Garissa District. Wajir is a town in North Eastern Province, Kenya. It is headquarter of Wajir District. The service started with three camels in October 1996 and had twelve in 2006 delivering 7000 books,^[3] daily in both English, Somali and Swahili^[4] This service has been used as a background for the novel "The Camel Bookmobile" by Masha Hamilton. Somali ( Af Soomaali, الصوماليه is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by ethnic Somalis Swahili (called Kiswahili in the language itself is the First language of the Swahili people (Waswahili who inhabit several large stretches Masha Hamilton is the author of three acclaimed novels Staircase of a Thousand Steps (2001 The Distance Between Us (2004 and The Camel Bookmobile
• A Donkey-drawn mobile library in Zimbabwe^[5] is being used to not only deliver books, but also to deliver access to the internet and multimedia. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election

• The library ship Epos serves many small communities in Western Norway. A ship /ʃɪp/ is a large vessel that floats on water Ships are generally distinguished from Boats based on size Epos is a floating Library that operates in the counties of Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal in Norway. Western Norway ( Norwegian: Vestlandet) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway.

References

External links

• The Internet Archive Bookmobile, which prints out-of-copyright books on demand. The project has spun off similar efforts elsewhere in the developing world.