The bookmobile carries 18,000 books to all parts of the county

Checking it out
Library outreach specialists Kay Brewer (left) and Gale Sellers make sure they have the variety of books their bookmobiles patrons are looking for.

By RAY WYCHE
Staff writer
 
Columbus County residents have no excuse when it comes to getting something to read.

If you can’t get to the county library for whatever reason, the library will come to you.

The big boxy red, white and blue Chevrolet van,  better known as the bookmobile, has traveled  on most roads in Columbus County with its cargo of about 18,000 books, bringing the world of the printed word to people who otherwise might be deprived of the pleasure and enlightenment  that books offer.

And for those unable to visit the communities’ central places where the bookmobile stops, the Columbus County Library has a homebound program in which library specialists will come to your home and deliver books, magazines and audio tapes of your liking.

Under the supervision of Library Director Morris Pridgen, the Columbus County Library goes the extra mile, literally and figuratively,  to make sure no resident can say he can’t access reading material.

The bookmobile’s bright colors attract  attention,  just as the library people want it to do.

Many readers prefer to pick up their reading materials at the county’s Carolyn T. High Library on Powell Boulevard in Whiteville,  or at branch libraries located at Lake Waccamaw,  Riegelwood,  Tabor City, Chadbourn or Fair Bluff.  But there are readers who, for whatever  reason, enjoy visiting the bookmobile.

“We have adults who  tell us they came to the bookmobile as kids,” library outreach specialist Gale Sellers says.
“Word of mouth is our best advertisement,” outreach specialist Kay Brewer  says.

Many regular patrons are waiting when the bookmobile pulls up at its monthly stops.  A visit to the bookmobile is a special occasion for children who like the idea of selecting their own books.

“The children have their own library cards,” Brewer says, and this gives them a sense of importance.

“You’d think they had a credit card with a million dollar limit.”

Sellers and Brewer  man the bookmobile and the homebound component of the library.  The bookmobile has regular places it parks — at a church, fire station, senior center or store —in the 24 communities it visits once per month. 

Brewer and Sellers work on the big van two days each week and visit their homebound patrons on two days.  The fifth day is spent replenishing shelves,  locating requested materials, and paperwork.

Brewer and Sellers find their jobs rewarding.

“We are so pleased with people who read,” Brewer says.  Readership is about equally divided between adults and youngsters, and it is the senior citizens that they encounter during their two days of homebound duty that makes them feel that they are doing something good.

“We’ve had the elderly tell us, ‘You’re the only person I’ve seen for days,’” Brewer says.  “We have a lot of elderly people.”  

Sellers and Brewer  have learned  their patrons’ tastes in reading materials and make sure they have some volumes that will be welcome  wherever  they go.

“We try to keep a variety of books on hand,” Sellers says.

The outreach program circulates  an average of 2,000 books per month.

The county’s library-on-wheels 1987 model Chevrolet shows 138,000 miles on its odometer and is one of only 30 bookmobiles still on the road in North Carolina.  “We take good care of it,” Sellers says.

Bookmobile service began in the county in1946. 

An earlier library outreach specialist,  Jane Saunders of Whiteville,  recalls  operating the bookmobile “from Dothan to the Green Swamp” three days per week,  visiting assigned sites at least once per month.

“We went all over the county.  I really enjoyed that,” she says.

Saunders recalled that then as now, the outreach librarians knew the types of books  their patrons wanted.

“Sometimes I didn’t ever  see my customers, but I knew what they read.  They’d leave  their books (to be returned) on the porch and I’d choose what books to leave.” 

Saunders says some of those who checked out books for their children were  illiterate. 

“A  lot of people learned to read along with their children,” she says.