Here's the mobile Library. It calls once a fortnight in our village, and has three stops each for a half hour.
The librarian who runs it is so kind. He helps elderly folk up the steps, even sometimes using the step lift for them.
I listened to his conversation with an elderly lady, gently telling her that the book she had picked up 'might not be quite suitable for her', and redirecting her to another.
This week as we approached, he was chatting to a slightly infirm lady and asking how she was.
"I haven't come for a book", she said, "Just for a chat."
So he invited her in to the van, where she had a natter about her forthcoming journey to see her son in Canada. (How she was going to cope with the journey I cannot imagine.)
We chose our books, and thanked him.
He told us that the lady often comes just for a chat, and that maybe it is the only chat that she has all day.
I felt that he ought to have a little tea room attached to the van, where people could come, browse for books, and have a chat over a cup of tea!
A mobile Library is more than just a van bringing books, I think.
We sometimes forget about the lonely. What a service he provides. Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteKindness goes a long ways in making a lonely soul's day a bit brighter. What a sweet man your librarian is.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post. Your rolling library sounds perfect, as does your librarian. And I love your idea about adding a tea shop to the van! Then it really would be perfect!
ReplyDeleteMy Grandma gets books from a mobile library, the man who drives it brings her a pile of books to her door as Grandma is pretty much housebound. So many of the elderly rely on the mobile library.
ReplyDeleteOur local library is at danger of closing, it'll be so sad if it does. Not having a car during the day it would mean that my girls would no longer have access to a library. :(
good post that highlights the plight of the often unoticed topic of loneliness... I see lots of older people who do the same at the shops... just want to stop for a natter! often someone will stop me in a aisle in the shop and ask me to get them something off a high shelf, then launch into their whole life history or something that is troubling them... I always stop to listen!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Canada, it was called the Bookmobile.
ReplyDeleteIt was my dream job!
Never got it though
That sounds lovely having the library come to you. How nice that it is more than just books, but a bit of happiness brought along as well.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds wonderful! I love the idea of a tea shop alongside...
ReplyDeleteA wonderful service delivered with kindness and a life-line for many in remote areas. Long may the service continue!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, am I correct in thinking that the mobile library is a "moving" branch of a regional public library? Is it possible for folks to place requests for a particular book to be circulated to them by the mobile library?
ReplyDeleteI remember a similar service years ago in my Virginia childhood. The traveling library van was called the Bookmobile!
xo
Oooh...I remember the mobile library in our little town when I was a young girl, the highlight of my week! Thanks for the memories!
ReplyDeleteDid you know that to drive a library van was once my dream job? It never happened, but I do love to see the vans out and about, and as you said, they are so much more than just a mobile library. xx
ReplyDelete