Crockett Library Unveils “Book Mobile"

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – The J.H. Wooters library in Crockett unveiled their new book mobile unit at a ribbon-cutting held in connection with the Crockett Area Chamber of Commerce Thursday, Feb. 23.

Library staff, city officials, chamber members, parents and kids all turned out to celebrate the new concept which aims to bring books to those who can’t so easily make it to the library. Library Director Judy Scott proudly showed off the converted bus which hosts several book shelves offering choices for both children and adults. There is even a section for kids who don’t have library cards.

The Messenger spoke with Scott in the summer and she explained COVID revealed some gaps in the community where the library had an opportunity to step in and help.

“After COVID, little by little patrons started to come back in,” Scott said. “But I began to notice the was a large population of children that were not getting to come to the library and after I did some research into this community, I found we have a lot of children that live in this community are not coming into the community because either both parents work or because of the distance to get to the library.”

Crockett Library Director Judy Scott checks the books are in good order in the new bookmobile set to hit the streets brining the love of reading to young and old alike.

The routes for children are still being perfected – the bus ideally would stop only where children can safely come without crossing too many streets.

“We will have to decide where we are going to park because our main concern is that we have a safe place to park so that children won’t have to go back and forth across the street to get to the book mobile,” Scott explained.

Elderly residents at nursing homes will also get a call from the mobile unit – which even hosts a ramp so an entire bookshelf can be wheeled into the home so the residents won’t have to come outside.

The project took over a year to get done, with help from local officials and donations. All present agreed this was a novel way to foster a love of reading in our youngest members and allow older residents to dive into a good book without having to go back and forth from the library.

The library recently announced a change to their operating hours to benefit the community, now opening on Fridays from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Who knows? Maybe someday kids will run out to the library book-mobile like we used to run to the ice cream van.

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]