SCRANTON — A new bookmobile will bring library resources and materials to Lackawanna County residents.
The new Lackawanna County Library System bookmobile will arrive this week. The 32-foot-long hybrid bookmobile will include a large television and wheelchair lift on the outside, and removable bookshelves and tables inside. It also will include a service window.
It will be filled with books of different genres for all ages, DVDs, a small “library of things,” a collection of assorted items, and puzzles.
The Scranton Public Library will operate the bookmobile on a contractual basis with the county library system. It cost about $670,000, with Lackawanna County and the library system covering the cost. TechOps Specialty Vehicles LLC of Maryland built and will deliver the bookmobile.
Two employees will work in it, a driver and another library employee.
Christina Thomas, public relations and outreach manager for the Scranton Public Library, anticipates the bookmobile will go to various places throughout the county, including schools, day care centers, community parks, neighborhoods and senior facilities. Officials expect it to be in operation five days a week when the school year starts.
The new bookmobile is the first to be in operation since 2021. The library system sold the old bookmobile, which had been in operation since 2000, for scrap that year.
The Scranton Public Library started running a bookmobile in 1958, according to newspaper archives. The original vehicle was replaced in 1973 by a new bookmobile that remained in operation until 1987, when the service was discontinued. The bookmobile returned in 2000, with the since-scrapped vehicle.
Scranton Public Library CEO Scott Thomas said the new one will be flexible to allow for different programs. He said libraries and community needs have evolved and the bookmobile had to do so to fit them. It also meets the needs of people who might not be able to make it to a library building.
The Lackawanna County Library System Bookmobile parked at Pompey Auto and Truck in Scranton as it awaits repair work Jan. 13, 2021. (Times-Tribune file)
The front of the new Lackawanna County Library System Bookmobile. Officials expect the new bookmobile to be in operation this summer. (Submitted)
The wheelchair lift on the new Lackawanna County Library System Bookmobile. Officials expect the new bookmobile to be in operation this summer. (Submitted)
The inside of the Lackawanna County Library System Bookmobile. Officials expect the new bookmobile to be up and running next month. (Submitted)
Shelves inside the new Lackawanna County Library System Bookmobile. (Submitted)
“The need in the community is so great for it because there’s people that either can’t get to a physical library or it’s just not fit into what they do, and so with this we can go toward that need,” he said.
Employees will set it up next week and it is expected to be on the road July 14 to 31, visiting libraries in the system, Christina Thomas said in an interview last week. The public can tour the bookmobile and talk to staff during the visits.
She said scheduled stops will begin in August.
Scott and Christina Thomas said employees and the community are excited to see it in operation. Library System Executive Director Sandy Longo said the bookmobile will reach people in the community.
“Even though we did have a lot of home services in place, like books by mail and home delivery, it’ll be nice to bring full library services to where they are,” she said.