Not a library, but a bus to spread reading and literacy

In Tampa, on Tampa Bay, in the American state of Florida lives a little yellow bus, called Bess. This bus is full of books and is a not for profit enterprise, that travels accross the USA distributing new books to children in areas of deprivation.  Staffed by volunteers it visits schools who read the stories to the children in classrooms before giving out the books. The intention of the project is to build up libraries in children's homes and give children the opportunity to own a book, which they may not have otherwise.

The idea was started by one woman, Jennifer Frances (Jenn) 14 years ago. It intially operated only in Tampa, but decided to go nationwide after its first 5 years. Jenn says that she was inspired by her grandmother (Nana Bess) who gave her the love of books and reading. Jenn wants to do that with each child. The vehicle manages to operate through donations and sponsorship, from a variety of sources, including Mecedes Benz to a book publisher.

I think that we are very fortunate that here in the UK we have the Book Trust's Bookstart scheme, which also gives books to children. This is a larger enterprise than Bess the Bookbus. Books are distributed to each child in the UK, not always in a little yellow bus, but Sheffield used to have a little blue bus, like a zoo, to go around schools and centres giving out stories and Bookstart packs. I am not sure that it still has. Usually the books are given away at libraries or health clinics, by library staff or health visitors, and children recieve them at the ages of 0-12 months and again at 3-4 years.

Here is the Sheffield bus, with the Bookstart Bear.

Bookstart is a UK charity, has a certain amount of government funding and accepts donations. It works closely with publishers to produce books suitable for children with additional needs and dual language books. Bess the Bookbus, and Bookstart have the same aims - give books, get children reading. 
 

Pictures telling a story

I have a google alert set that sends me anything related to children's mobile libraries. It is a bit hit and miss if I actually get anything more interesting than obsure mobile apps (change of use of the word mobile) or the running schedule of a particular vehicle. However, browsing through today I found the following photos loaded up onto flickr from an album posted by Providence Public Library (Rhode Island).

 

This first photograph is from 1961 as you can tell from what the library assistant (or librarian) is wearing. She is so formal and professional - you couldn't possibly go anywhere without wearing a hat. The children are wearing the same sort of thing that I used to wear as a child of about their age in the 1960s. The mobileness of the vehicle appears to be that it contains a shelf of books to pull out and browse through. I do love the poster on the shelves announcing "Playground service" and the children are so serious.  

  This next photo is from 1986 where Providence Public Library has obviosuly invested in a much larger vehicle. This time the children look happier.

 I think that this photo taken five years later is iconic - it could be an artwork. Presumably it is the same vehicle, in its garage, waiting to spread books, happiness and literacy to the children of Providence. To me, who has never been to the USA and take my knowledge from films, it looks like it could easily turn into the Ghost Buster's vehicle. 

 As we can see here, however, it is a beautifuly illustrated bookmobile. It did turn into something...

It appears to have become a mobile art gallery, a good idea in itself, but I do feel a bit sad that in 2004 it is has become a glaring red, like a fire engine.

The album that is home to these pictures is at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ppl_ri_images/albums/72157622565124845

Best practices in Children's Mobile Libraries: Stock procurement

Someone has to make the decision of what to put into a children's mobile library and as can be expected, it varies according to the authority. In some library authorities the operators advised a library purchasing team about which books or items were popular and went well in their vehicles. Some purchasing teams were made up of children's librarians, but in others they were not. In some authorities, the operators had no say at all, library stock being centrally purchased from a Library wholesaler. It is perhaps no surprise to discover that the services where operators were able to advise the acquisitions teams about which books their customers liked were more successful at inspiring children to read. 

The number of requests for specific books, or even books of a certain genre, was much greater in the vehicles where the books were centrally purchased by staff who had no contact with the vehicles, staff from the vehicles, or even other children's libraries. I was on one vehicle that had no dinosaur books, which really disappointed one little boy. I also visited a CML which had no horse books, and that really disappointed a young girl. On the other hand, I found two different CMLs where the operators had a lot of say in which books to stock and they were really enthusiastic about the books, getting books off the shelf to show me, saying things like "have you seen this one?" "this one is new, I really like it", " this is great book, and the kids love it". It is that sort of enthusiasm which inspires children. I also found two vehicles on which children told me they preferred to their nearest static libraries because the CMLs had more "books that they like". There was also the vehicle that visited a tiny rural village school. The teachers were so grateful for the service, because their children were "voracious readers" and the village was so isolated it was not easy to get to another library, and as one of the children said to me, it would have been really expensive to buy all the books she read. Those children revelled in the variety of books that the CML stocked.

Unfortunately, not even children's librarians get it right. There was one CML which I visited where the books were purchased by the children's team, who no doubt were guided by general trends and new exciting authors. The operators outlined three problems with their stock, and they felt that the children's librarians were not listening to their suggestions. One problem was that there was not enough non-fiction in stock, only a tiny shelf-full. The librarians apparently were of the opinion that reading fiction develops empathy and understanding, which is no doubt a good way to introduce children to feelings and a safe way of handling them. However, they forgot that libraries are store houses of knowledge as well as stories, and sometimes it is the knowledge that inspires children to read, or helps them learn out of the classroom. The second problem was sometimes new books would turn up, which were "trendy", but the customers of that vehicle ignored them. That new series was just not to their taste. It shows that local populations have their own opinions and a book which does really well in one community may not in another. The third problem was that librarians who come onto the vehicles to read stories from a "storybook collection" frequently chose really inspiring books, that simply were not available for loan, so children who wanted to read the book they had just heard, which happens frequently, could not borrow the book.


Now, why is all this important? I feel that I have been rambling a bit with this blog, and it is a little while since I have been thinking in the terms of logical arguments. The point is that to motivate and inspire children's reading, to give them the reason to read, you must offer them things that they will want to read, however puerile, however trashy, or even however highbrow. Books about films, or television characters, or comics, or graphic novels, or about ballet or boxing, are all a way of getting children hooked on the printed word, and gives them practise and motivation to start understanding those symbols we use to convey messages. CML operators spend a lot of time talking to children about books and their likes and dislikes, and therefore know what their particular customers want. Operators who like the stock themselves, and who have had a hand in choosing it, are more likely to know which book is just right for customer "X", and which books will be borrowed, and will have the enthusiasm to "sell" a book, or an author to a child. therefore operators recommendations for stock should be heard and implemented.

Choice and variety is also important, which sounds like a contradiction to getting the right books for the right child. I can only explain the phenomena of a large selection of the right books for one community with the memory of one boy I met, taking ages browsing at the shelves standing, looking, perplexed, being hurried by the teaching staff, sighing longingly, "There so much to choose from". His problem was not that he couldn't find anything he liked, he had found everything he liked.  

Bright Star Mobile Library: an example of a little vehicle

I have recently come across people who have a narrow concept of a Mobile Library, thinking that they are all large, expensive vehicles, but that is not the case. Here is an example of small, but perfectly formed, and very effective mobile libraries


Bright Star Mobile Library – Give2Asia

Reading for boys.

 I have not yet read the detail of this report,( Boys_Commission_Report.pdf (application/pdf Object) but the executive summary suggests that there is absolutly no reason why boys should not be reading as avidly as girls. There is no strange quirk in the male brain that stops boys from enjoying reading. I also believe that boys DO read, because I have caught them at it, devouring books, magazines, web pages, newspapers in a school library, on children's mobile libraries or at home. The problem appears to be more the fault of adults. The exectutive summary of this report says that adults expectations of boys are at fault, teachers don't know about the right books, adults don't buy the right books.

The point is, adults don't look and take note of what the boys are reading, for example the sports pages of a newspaper, or a website about their favourite online game. The exective summary concludes that contact with a regular (weekly) male reading role model gets boys into the reading habit. During the time I spent working on and researching children's mobile libraries I observed many males being a reading role model. Not only male CML operators reading stories aloud, but also male operators quietly reading to themselves in full view of the children and male parents reading to their children (male and female). Male operators also praise boys' reading and discuss their choice of book with them, as an equal because the operator has read that book.

There are a number of other reasons why childrens mobile libraries are a conduit to boys reading enjoyment.

• They can choose whatever book/reading matter they want from a wide variety, uncensored by parent or teacher (mostly)
• They are in an enviroment where reading is accepted by their peers
• They respond well to the individual attention they recieve on a CML and the informal situation
• The nature of the learning environment found on a CML including humour, fun and adventure, matches the learing style of most boys. 

So, my solution is, get more children's mobile libraries, and send them out into the world seeking out boys, luring them out fom behind their computers and draging them from the playing fields! 

Latest and maybe last bit of fieldwork, Manchester and Stockport

So, it has been just over a year since I started going out on vehicles and although I am doing qualitative research (stuff that cannot be counted or measured), here are some figures. I have observed over 700 children, I have talked to at least 29 staff and 40 parents and carers. I have undertaken observations in 13 vehicles over 9 library authorities and informally spoken to the staff of two more. If I have missed you out, I apologise. I still hope to contact everyone by the end of the PhD, so if you are part of a Children's Mobile Library service and have any burning issues to tell me, please be in touch. I have made friends all over the country and I hope that mobile libraries and library services can exist for the next year so that I can report back!

So, the last two bits of fieldwork were a Saturday morning with the Reading Voyager in Manchester, gosh, the traffic was hectic, and a Thursday afternoon with the Stockport Storybus.The Reading Voyager visits 10 mainstream schools and 5 special schools regularly on a three week rota. This is to fit in with the main library service borrowing period for books. They also visit children’s homes, a travellers site, a fairground site and street stops after school. They mainly issues books and don’t generally tell stories apart from during special events. They have collaborated with Manchester museum to produce a board game about books which is still played in the schools they visit.

The vehicle is currently run by Diane and Lynne. They always work with a driver who could be one of a pool of seven,the drivers circulate like Lincoln. The driver of the day during my visit was Karen. She has worked in Libraries for the past 30 years and has driven a mobile library for the past 15. Both of the staff I saw today love their jobs and are dedicated to the service.The aim of the service as far as Diane is concerned, is to break down barriers. She feels there is more to their service that just giving out books, part of it is being a role model and another caring adult in the children’s lives. She has taken over the post from the woman who set the service up. The vehicle is a “Leicester coach builders” vehicle. The inside is pleasant enough, the shelves are pinky purple and the carpet blue. There are two padded seats at the back and lots of shelves that go up to head height only. The shelves are all face on, and there are a number of spinners. It has a public laptop, the only other one that I have seen since my days in the Reading Rocket, The outside is cream with illustrations by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.

The Stockport Storybus is quite different. It's target audience is children under the age of five. It operates with a team of three people, Christopher, Carol and Alison and it is managed by Sarah.

This service was started in 2001 as part of the sure start service. It still has a sure start logo on its livery. It specialises in under fives and visits under fives groups, schools and nurseries, children’s centres and has community stops, Alison and Christopher also deliver Bookstart books, tell stories in clinics and work with parents and children. Much of their work involves modelling storytelling for parents, so that they can do it with their children at home. The team also train Sure start staff who have little confidence in storytelling.Today was the last day of term and I had the privilege to meet the whole team.
The vehicle is on the road three days a week, and has eight stops a day. The community stops are usually very busy with parents and grandparents bringing their children and grandchildren on board. The interior is colourful, decorated with nursery style scenes, only a few book shelves and a number of kinderboxes on the floor. It is a large space, dedicated to storytelling activities. It was a lovely end to some very fruitful fieldwork.

The Bexley Children's Library

The Bexley Children's Mobile Library is managed by Jacqueline Luckhurst who has been involved with the service since it officially started seven years ago. During that time she has seen the development of her customers as they progress through school and move from "Where's Wally" books to the "Darren Shan" series. Jacqueline has two part-time driver assistants, although she can drive the vehicle herself. When it goes around schools and children's centres or in parks at holiday time, it is double staffed. This means that Jacqueline is able to spend a lot of time talking to the children and helping and advising them as they choose their books.

The children's mobile library only visits schools because that is the place to find children. The service is available for the individual child. The interior is decorated with children's work from all the schools it visits, created specially for the vehicle. On my visit they were displaying a dragon and St. George that was done as a celebration of St. Georges day.

I was there

The two links that follow are press reports about events at this year's Mobile Meet which was held on May 8th at Dewsbury. I found this year's particularly interesting and very useful from a research point of view. The day started with a talk from Baroness Boothroyd, one of my role models, a wonderfully strong minded woman who controlled the business of the house of commons like a powerful headmistress.

Baroness shares love of libraries - Dewsbury Reporter

Her talk showed her humour, warmth and no-nonsense approach to life. Part of her duties at the Mobile Meet was to present the awards for the new "Mobile library champion of the year awards", which was an idea that came to the Branch and Mobile Library Group of CILIP from an Australian visitor last year.

Mobile library champion of the year : Warwickshire News - Warwickshire Web

It was a good day for me because I met the staff of the two Powys Children's libraries that take books to children during school time during term times, then transform themselves into "The Book Runners" during holiday times. They consider that in that way they "Reach every child in the county". They had not brought their vehicles with them but that gives me a chance to visit them some time. I also saw the two Oxford children's mobiles. I will be visiting them on the first of June. Their latest vehicle is actually a mobile children's centre as well as a library and I will be very interested in visiting that.

One of the most surprising vehicles is the Bookstart story telling mobile from Sheffield. Unfortunately because they do not issue books and perform the functions of a library I can't count them in part of the research. The idea of a children's mobile library for Sheffield had been discussed, but it was considered impractical because Sheffield is such a large city more than one vehicle would have been needed. From my point of view, I consider that a worthwhile investment, but I think Sheffield libraries only had funding for one vehicle. It is remarkable, however, because it looks exactly like a zoo cage, or for those of us who remember such barbaric things, a travelling cage for a circus animal. The side lifts up completely to expose bars and a very inside which is stuffed full of animals, the soft toy variety. It's function is to go around distributing Bookstart packs and telling stories. It's aims are to reach the unreachable, promote literacy and tell parent s and children about the library service. If it cannot inspire children to read, then nothing will!



Here are some pictures of it!

The third vehicle that drew my attention was the North Tyneside children's mobile. This was a surprise because I did not know of that one. I think it is very unfair of authorities to start a new vehicle with telling me! However, this vehicle is staffed by a dynamic young woman, Rachel, who obviously loves her job. Like the West Sussex northern vehicle it is single staffed, but unlike the West Sussex vehicle it is BIG so I am filled with admiration of Rachel's ability to drive it. It visits children at schools and children's centres with the emphasis of providing a service to the individual child. It targets disadvantaged area's, hard to reach groups and schools that are not near a static library
.

It is unusual because the livery flows inside as well as outside.

A the end of the Mobile Meet prizes for best vehicles are awarded. This year the Oxford mobile children's centre won the innovation award, the Sheffield Bookstart promotional vehicle won best best small vehicle and North Tyneside won best livery and delegates' choice. A good day for children's mobile libraries.

The Edinburgh bookbus

I have spent three days with the staff of Edinburgh's Access Services, riding around on the book bus with them. I think I may have scared off some of their customers, because places that I was assured were usually busy did not choose to board the vehicle that day. Well, I am accustomed to that sort of erratic behaviour by customer groups, but it was a bit sad not to see the system in full swing. I met Edinburgh's Reading Champion, Colm Linnaer, and saw the excellent work that he is achieving with disaffected children. There are definitely some "readers" being made through his efforts on the bookbus. The bookbus visits family and children's centres, special schools and secure units, places where children do not have any other access to library facilities.

The West Sussex book buses

Last Week I was kindly hosted by West Sussex and spent two days touring sunny Worthing (yes, it was sunny) and one day in sunny Crawley (cold, but sunny). I also had the privileged to take part in two Word Book Day events at pre-schools. The book buses visit underfives settings on a three weekly schedule. The children come on in small groups listen to one "big" story together, then have to opportunity to browse the books, handling them, sharing them and being read to individually by library and setting staff. There is a great deal of partnership between the setting and the bookbus staff. This was demonstrated by the World Book Day activities. The activities were jointly planned, setting staff prepared each setting with craftwork by the children, and a story was read by bookbus staff, then acted out by staff, children and me.

The Southern bookbus is quite large and staffed by two specialist assistants. The Northern bookbus is small, staffed by one library outreach worker and only operates on Mondays and Fridays because it is shared with the Families and Children's service. This seems to work well.

Leicester book buses

Well here are a pair of book buses! Today I went to see some very nice people from Leicester city libraries children's team, who manage the Leicester book buses. I managed to look over the vehicles while they were back in the depot for lunch. The under-fives BookBus tours settings in the city with a specific driver-library assistant and a children's team member, telling stories and issuing books. The children's BookBus focuses on area's of the city where the need to improve literacy is greatest. this means that although the timetable is fixed, it changes from time to time, when it has done its job in one area, most of their clients also going to a static library, and there is more need or no provision in another.

During the morning it does promotional visits to schools in those areas, to tell stories and talk about library membership. It rests in early afternoon to come out again between 3pm and 7pm to stop in the streets so that children can use it. They both stock mainly fiction, with just a little non fiction. It also attends community festivals and council events. The service has been continuous for the past 30 years, so as far as I can tell, it is the oldest continuous service in Britain. They have worn out three lots of vehicles in that time. Tell me, anyone, if their service has been going for longer!

This is more comment on "The Social Impact of Public Libraries; a literature review" continued.

This is further comment on "The Social Impact of Public Libraries; a literature review" by Evelyn Kerslake and Margaret Kinnel.

They refer to Tawete (1995) who says that the need to increase literacy and other skills was a primary reason for the establishment of UK public libraries and continues to be one of the main reasons public libraries are established in developing countries. Zapata(1994) suggests that public libraries address illiteracy by preventing future illiteracy among adults by "developing a reading culture amongst today's children" and by reducing illiteracy among adults who never learned to read. The prevention of illiteracy is the point that I am considering. Do Children's mobile libraries help prevent illiteracy. Is this a better phrase that Promote literacy?

For some children, as the teacher I spoke to said, a library is the only place where they may find a book. Kerslake and Kinnel say public libraries are "...the means of making books accessible to children through display, promotion, advice and assistance. They are the one potentially constant source or supply of books...." they also state the importance of literacy to the economic growth of a country, and the early sharing of books with children that provides children with the impetus to carry on reading. Today we have Bookstart and Surestart trying to do that task. They also mention Cynon Valley Borough library's "Readabout" Bookbus that worked with playgroups and schools, delivered books and did storytimes and craft activities. They also mention summer activities linked with mobile libraries that go into rural areas, just for the summer holidays, specially in Norfolk. One called the Village Green Storytime project, and the other the Great Western Booktrail.

Is ten a good enough number?

Well, after going through all the local authority websites listed on Direct.Gov I found 10 proper specialised Children's mobile libraries (Actually, I think that it is 11 because Leicester has two vehicles), 13 School library service vehicles, and a handful of other shared/dual purpose vehicles. There are some that have come and gone, some that were only meant to be for a short season, just summer holiday storytelling. I had a brief conversation with a school librarian last week, who informed me that when she worked at Staveley in Derbyshire, she has spent some time during the summer holidays on the mobile library. This is something I must follow up. She only did it a few times because she said she suffered from travel sickness and felt very queasy travelling around in the van.

So, the question is, is ten enough or is it just the right number to do a really good investigation? Of course, there may be others that I have not yet unearthed and I will carry on my mission of seeking out children's mobile libraries not only in Britain, but across the universe. The ones that I have found are in Bexley, Birmingham and Blackburn, Edinburgh, Leicester (x2) and Manchester, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Southampton, Stockport and Swansea. There are more School library service mobiles, but I am not sure have relevant they are, or what effect they have on children because they only visit schools, and then at most termly, or merely twice a year. The number of books they allow the classes to borrow varies from just one or two per child, to lots (well, that is not a very specific sum I know, I have the figure 500 in my head, not per child, of course, but per school, or per class, and I can't quite remember what the exact allocation is). They certainly operate to a different model, but that could be something to compare, if 10 is not enough.

I think I need a finer net

Well, so far I have got up to G and only found 3 more children's mobile libraries. One is a public library, one is a school library service vehicle, and the other is shared between to two services, which seems to be a jolly good idea to me. The children's mobile libary information seems to be hidden on many local council webpages, with little mention on the headings, just a snippet at the end of a page, or by following lots of links. It takes a lot of clicks to find some of them. Are councils trying to hide the fact that they exist? or are they considered unimportant? Could this be the difference between success and failure, is a higher profile needed? These and other questions need to be answered. So the latest fishes in my catch are Edinburgh City council's "Book Bus", Gloucestershire's shared vehicle and Doncaster's school library service vehicle. I knew of the existance of the Edinburgh vehicle which made me search the website to find mention of it. It was put in Access services, without a link to the mobile library area or the children's services area. I only found it by searching the main site.

I knew about it because the head of edinburgh City Libraries came to visit the Reading Rocket when I was working on it, to get some ideas of what the Edinburgh vehicle should be like. From the description of the vehicle it seems to be the most like the reading Rocket that I have seen so far. It mentions face on display of books, which was one of our hallmarks.

History of Mobile Libraries (Part one)

In 1980, G. I. J. Orton wrote a history of Mobile Libraries in the U.K. His definition of what a "Mobile Library " is, involves the use of the "Internal Combustion Engine". Prior to the use of vehicles into which people could walk and choose books, boxes of books were taken around to villages, branch libraries, schools, or even family homes. We would call these deposit collections. They were known as "Traveling Libraries" and were commonly delivered by horse and cart. This means that the "mobile" camel library, or elephant library are not "Mobile Libraries " in Orton's sense of the word. In the early 1900's, Staffordshire circulated boxes of books for local populations, around library centres based in Schools. there were 50 books available, thirty of which circulated and 60% were children's books. Orton does not specify which Baltimore he means, but apparently in a Baltimore during 1943, the horse and cart delivery was reinstated because children found it preferable. there had been "Juvenile Delinquent " problems there.

The terms for a library that moves have been variously known as "Circulating Libraries", "Traveling Libraries", "Bibliobus", "Library Coach", "Book bus" and of course in America they are know as "Bookmobiles". In 1920's Britain a van that people could enter and browse books on shelves were known as "Exhibition Vehicles". The 1925 one from Norfolk contained one third Juvenile Fiction. It appears that the idea of mobile libraries didn't really take off until the second world war. Hastings owned a mobile library van, but because of pressures during wartime (not specified) it was put up for loan. the Borough of St Pancras adopted it and it carried a "Good choice of children's books". I 1954, only 10% of all U.K. mobile libraries carried children's books. Vehicles were sometimes put to use for children.

In 1958 Nottinghamshire used two vehicles in the summer holidays to visit villages with a Children's librarian. By 1966 the idea had blossomed and most local authorities offered the same service. Caernarvonshire used one in1961 to take a termly supply of books to schools but it was also used to transport books to branch libraries. Specific vehicles for children did not emerge until the 1960's. Possibly the first child specific mobile library was produced in 1963 by Moray County Library. It functioned specifically for primary age children, carried 200 books and had sufficient room for 36 children (a classful) and their teacher. Schools were visited fortnightly and each class allowed 20 minutes to choose their books. Local government boundary reorganisation paused the development of all mobile libraries for a while, so the next stage comes in the 1970's.

the summer of 1975 appears to be the year of the Children's mobile library. Leicester County Libraries converted a corporation double decker bus into a "Magic Mobile Library" to tour the "Non-reading" parts of Leicester. It was decorated with witches, goblins and ghosts, aimed to serve under 14's and their parents. It stayed in places for about an hour, showing films, holding competitions and story times. I was in Leicester at that time, but I don't ever remember seeing it. Southampton had a pink "Book bus" charged with the mission to break down barriers between children and libraries. It's raison-detre was as community liaison, not just to deliver books. I think that is the aspect of mobile libraries that local government politicians and accountants fail to perceive. They are community assets, they are "ideal publicity machines" for local authorities (Orton 1980) they socialize and link disparate communities. Back to the summer of '75...

... Hammersmith brought out the "Pied Piper that visited 18 schools, and in 1976, Shropshire had a less formal pied piper too. As Orton was writing in the late 70's , that is where this story ends. He finished by stressing that economic pressures and increasing fuel costs were presenting problems for mobile library services. Well there is no change there then.