The Bookmobile

A very cool mobile library

Nearly every week I cycle by the “BiebBus”: a strangely looking container that expands into a two-floor library. Parked nearby schools, the local network of libraries operates three of these to give kids access to over 9000 books.

Downstairs, in ‘the treasury’ you can choose a book.

And then you can head upstairs to enjoy it immediately!

Christian Ernsten wrote a nice piece on it in 2011 with some history on the BiebBus.

Inspiring kids to read is so important. I have fond memories of visiting a local Bookmobile that would stop at the end of our street. They’d always have new books - and as young nerd i appreciated that they even had software and video games to borrow.
The fact that this one looks so impressive hopefully draws kids to read. Just the other day we heard about some kids that interacted with ours that had no books at home. A terrible shame. Even my 5-year-old son spends hours just looking through books.

An extremely brief history of bookmobiles

Bookmobiles have been around since at least 1839 when “The American School Library” was a travelling library (horse-drawn, of course). Many subsequent iterations were built acrtoss countries, like this English one in 1859:

Throughout time, mobile libraries have been used to reach communities that for various reasons had poor access to libraries. Notably during the second world war, even in library-dense London a “war-time library on wheels” was created to continue giving people access to books while the city was plagued by air raids.

Nowadays these libraries serve a similar need, but are particularly often used to give kids easy access to books. Libraries are amazing places, where you have essentially free access to thousands upon thousands books. Yet people are reading much less for pleasure. Anecdotally, we hear few kids at school talking about reading at home, and fewer where the parents read daily.
A mobile library can spark a love for books, which I’d argue is one of the greatest gifts you can give someone growing up in the era of TikTok and Instagram.

And if you’re not reading yet - today is the best day to start. I highly recommend getting an e-reader and reading something. It doesn’t matter what. If you’re not enjoying what you’re reading, get another book!