Beep beep! The EBRPL Bookmobile takes literature from the library to patrons all around the parish

Ever borrowed a library book at a community center? Or checked out a DVD at a nursing home? These experiences and more are possible in East Baton Rouge Parish thanks to the Bookmobile, an on-the-go outreach program that brings books and other media to people who might not normally be able to access the library’s offerings.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library offers 15 physical locations across the parish for the community to rent, research and use items such as books, DVDs, audiobooks and more. But the library also goes mobile, meeting the community with its three buses and three vans that travel across the parish to provide library advocacy.

The Bookmobile vehicles offer resources such as books, DVDs and audiobooks. The program visits various sites daily, including preschools, senior homes, community centers and events.

Tameka Roby is the Bookmobile and Outreach Services Manager at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, and she has been managing the Bookmobile program since 2011.

“A lot of libraries began as bookmobiles,” Roby says. “They didn’t have the physical structure, but they had lots of people who would donate books, and so they had a bookmobile staff that collected those donations, cataloged them, arranged them on the bookmobile and traveled.”

The Bookmobile and Outreach Services division of the library has 20 staff members who manage the Bookmobile vehicles and provide service in five areas: preschool outreach, senior services, charter school rotation, community routes and weekend events. 

The preschool outreach focuses on early literacy, and a staff of six visits preschools, daycares, and more to provide 20-minute storytimes for children age 3 to 5.

Another five staff members are assigned to the senior services department. Those employees visit nursing homes, retirement homes, assisted living sites and communities such as EBR Council on Aging or East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority sites.

“The Bookmobile is allowed to go into spaces where people wouldn’t think the library can go, and we’re able to connect with our community in a different way,” Roby says. “I think that’s what makes bookmobile services different from a traditional library.”

These staff members also engage with the community through computer programs, dancing programs, singing programs, crafts and even gardening, along with providing library services. 

“We really provide resources for people who can’t physically make it to the library themselves,” Roby says. “They can be in a mental health facility. They can be in a domestic violence shelter. They can be in any capacity where they can’t make it to the library.”

The Bookmobile also issues library cards. Visitors are only required to show a photo ID to receive a card. 

Since the Bookmobile makes daily stops around town in places with different literacy levels, the buses are organized by outreach sectors. For example, “King Cake” is the preschool bus, so it holds a large collection of children’s books, but also adult books. The “Mud Bug” is a sprinter van that has primarily adult books, but there’s also a section for children and teens.

“We keep a little bit of everything for everyone, because we’re not at a brick-and-mortar library,” Roby says. “We’re able to arrange items in an easier way for patrons to use them. So most of the books on the bookmobile are arranged by genre, which is different from the Dewey Decimal System.”

The Bookmobile is typically met with regulars stopping by to say hello or return their books, while new visitors admire its stock and features. To get involved with the Bookmobile, onlookers can visit Patrons of the Public Library (POPL) to be recruited for programming help.

“We remove those barriers to access that people might find more difficult to use at a brick-and-mortar library,” Roby says. “Our library administration has a very, very big heart for outreach. They believe in serving and providing equitable access to services and information for all members of our community, those that are housed and unhoused, despite your religion, your race, whatever.”