Bookmobile to visit Healdsburg and Geyserville Aug. 13
Since July 2009, one vehicle has delivered happiness, education and the wonderment of stepping into brand new worlds, all across Sonoma County. That vehicle is the Free Bookmobile, and the drivers are tasked with stopping in areas of the county that don’t have easy access to libraries or have populations that don’t read often.
Glen Weaver is the director of the portable nonprofit, where his goal is to improve literacy, especially in younger populations. “Young people should read because it’s an important way to develop communication skills,” he said.
“We are transitioning to an information-based society, in which it is much easier to find your way, to find your tribe, to find ways to contribute if you can communicate well. I think that all starts with literacy, with a fluency in the written and the spoken word. And that means that we’ve got to put books in kids’ hands as early as possible and show them that value.”
Reading is especially important for young boys, who Weaver says tend to have lower interest in reading overall. “I think it’s pretty clear that as a group, girls age-for-age seem to be stronger readers and just more interested in reading,” he said.
“Of course that’s generally speaking, (but) boys seem to have more physical energy in general and they want to bounce around in the bookmobile and see how it’s built. So we have those conversations too, and that’s great, because that’s an introduction to what we do and I share with them my career. That’s unusual too, to have a man working with a library setting, this mobile library setting and just loving books; you just don’t see that as often as female librarians, so if I can start these conversations with the boys, then hopefully I can lead them to something that looks cool and maybe they’re starting a little reading.”
The staff also changes the types of books in rotation depending on their stops. For younger audiences, Weaver and his assistant, Alison Finch will choose books including science, sports or early reader material – they are usually in need of donations for toddler and young adult books.
Seniors, Weaver said, usually prefer mystery, romance or history books.
The Free Bookmobile combines routine monthly stops around the county with unique ones. “(Some stops) we’ve chosen because they are in what I call a ‘literacy desert,’” Weaver said.
“And that means that there’s not a strong culture of reading, and even if it’s only maybe a few miles from a library, there’s not a lot of impetus to make use of that library, and of course the county has fewer and fewer bookstores. So we are working to change that culture by appearing regularly. We bring them the books every month. And we make sure it’s on a weekend or an evening, mostly weekends, so that folks who work or are in school can come see us.”
Next month, the Free Bookmobile visits the Healdsburg Water Carnival on Veterans Memorial Beach on Saturday, August 13 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., and in Geyserville from 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Weaver works on grant applications year-round to keep the bookmobile going. “Our major supporters are first and foremost the Ernest L. and Ruth W. Finley Foundation,” he said.
“They provide major operating support each year, and we’re very grateful to them. We also get help from Codding Foundation, Community Foundation of Sonoma County, First Five Sonoma County; they fund our work with little ones, Speedway Children’s Charities, the Bethlehem Foundation helps with our outreach to senior citizens, and of course Healdsburg Forever.org, which used to be the Healdsburg Area Fund of the Community Foundation. They have an endowment and they also do fundraising and they also make sure that each year they support worthwhile nonprofits working in the Healdsburg and Geyserville areas, and we have been a five-year recipient of their loyal support.”
Local schools help as well: the Sonoma Country Day School in Santa Rosa recently held a book drive, which earned the bookmobile over 9,000 books.
Finch is the newest mobile librarian on the Free Bookmobile, and she started work in May. “I had volunteered since March of 2015, and when Glen approached me at the end of 2015, I thought ‘Gosh, what a great gig this would be, what an opportunity,’” she said.
“Because it has such a good feeling to it, and I wanted to be a part of this effort, this outreach program, and so we just went from there.”
Finch typically drives the bookmobile one or two days out of the week. “(Glen is) trying to get money to get us out on the road more often,” so they have hopes of expanding the service, she said.
Finch cited a study by the Office of Research, Economic and Community Development, stating that there is a positive correlation between reading and success.
In addition, “a love of reading and literacy gives one empathy, and being able to look at worlds or see things through other people’s eyes, through fiction particularly, is an important thing, and being a well-informed citizen, it pays dividends hugely,” she said.
“(If) people can read and are not taken advantage of, they could be more active participants in the democratic process and in their communities.”
Finch has greatly enjoyed her experience with the Free Bookmobile thus far.
“It’s been such a kick,” she said. “It’s just so much fun to drive out there, especially if I’m parking like at the Dollar Tree in Roseland or Oliver’s Market, you can see the kids holding their parents from across the parking lot because they can spot the bookmobile. It’s just great to watch them, and when people come in they say ‘Oh, this is so cool! I did something like this when I was a child.’ It just is a feel-good, all-around energy.”
For more information on the program and the stops it makes, visit www.freebook
mobile.org.
