Bookmobile Stop Criteria

[Ancic, Meri Fern]

Hello,

Does anyone have guidelines/criteria/policies for evaluating bookmobile stops that you'd be willing to share? We are hoping to expand our current service but want to have a model in place that makes the best use of our resources for serving our community. 

Thanks! 

Meri Ancic (she/her)

Bookmobile Librarian I | LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION

San Mateo County Libraries 

833.YES.SMCL smcl.org

[Shadia Bastiampillai]

Hi Everyone, I would be interested in this too.

 

From: abos-o...@googlegroups.com <abos-o...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Ancic, Meri Fern
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2025 2:33 PM
To: ABOS-O...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ABOS-Outreach] Bookmobile Stop Criteria

 

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[Tameka Roby]

I don't necessarily have an evaluation or criteria as we are kind of open to accepting almost all types of organizations, businesses, non-profits, etc....but I do have expectations and philosophy sheets that we give to prospective centers.  I have attached.  

Thanks, 

Tameka 

Tameka Roby

East Baton Rouge Parish Library

Bookmobile and Outreach Services 

3434 North Boulevard

Baton Rouge, LA 70806

Bookm...@ebrpl.com

Office: (225) 302-5515 

Cell: (225) 939-3155

http://www.ebrpl.com/

 

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From: abos-o...@googlegroups.com <abos-o...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Shadia Bastiampillai <SBastia...@tpl.ca>
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2025 1:37 PM
To: Ancic, Meri Fern <an...@smcl.org>; ABOS-O...@googlegroups.com <ABOS-O...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [ABOS-Outreach] RE: Bookmobile Stop Criteria

 

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[Keely Hall]

Here is ours.  We have both a Bookmobile and a STEAM programming van.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Keely Hall
Principal Librarian
Mobile Library (500 W. Broadway, Anaheim, CA 92805)
(714) 765-1769 | Anaheim.net/Library

[Alex Mitchell]

I will take this opportunity to plug the excellent ALA article Beep Beep: Creating Objective Criteria for Choosing Bookmobile Stops.

There have been several previous discussions in this listserv about the subject, so you may find some other resources by searching back through the Google Group history

Alex Mitchell

Sacramento Public Library

amit...@saclibrary.org

[Ancic, Meri Fern]

Thank you!

Meri Ancic (she/her)

Bookmobile Librarian I | LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION
San Mateo County Libraries 

833.YES.SMCL smcl.org

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Subject: [ABOS-Outreach] Re: Bookmobile Stop Criteria

 

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[Ancic, Meri Fern]

Thank you! Tameka, I really like your preschool agreement, too.

Meri Ancic (she/her)

Bookmobile Librarian I | LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION
San Mateo County Libraries 

833.YES.SMCL smcl.org

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From: Tameka Roby <tr...@ebrpl.com>
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2025 2:09 PM
To: Shadia Bastiampillai <SBastia...@tpl.ca>; Ancic, Meri Fern <an...@smcl.org>; abos-o...@googlegroups.com <abos-o...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Bookmobile Stop Criteria

 

[Juanita Daugherty]

Does anyone else have a rubric/criteria/policies/guidelines they use to determine the eligibility of a library stop? We are revamping our rubric that was made around the start of COVID.

Juanita Daugherty 

Henderson County Public Library 

101 S Main St 

Henderson, KY 42420 

(270) 826-3712 ext. 219 

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From: abos-o...@googlegroups.com <abos-o...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ancic, Meri Fern <an...@smcl.org>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2025 11:06 AM
To: Tameka Roby <tr...@ebrpl.com>; Shadia Bastiampillai <SBastia...@tpl.ca>; abos-o...@googlegroups.com <abos-o...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [ABOS-Outreach] Re: Bookmobile Stop Criteria

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[Mike Cleaves]

Our bookmobile staff has talked at length about how to decide eligibility, but we’ve never really landed on a clear answer. In the end, we always come back to the same idea: the library is for everyone, and so is the bookmobile. Because of that, we don’t try to draw hard lines or set limits. Instead, our system is pretty simple, service is offered on a first come, first served basis. As long as patrons are getting library cards, checking out books or using our other services then the stop is worthwhile. 

It may not be a perfect formula, but it keeps things fair and reflects what we’re here to do: bring library services to as many people as we can, wherever they are.

[Sally Robertson]

That sounds like a good plan. 

Sally Robertson
The Mt Juliet Biking Librarian

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ABOS-Outreach/51d72917-22b3-41f5-9b26-fc227786cf9bn%40googlegroups.com.

[Robin Rousu]

Hello, 

We take a bit of a different approach. The Library is for everyone, but the bookmobile is for those who have barriers to library use due to age, disability, or other factors. With limited resources, a large population, plentiful branches within our service area, and a desire to prioritize access for patrons with socioeconomic barriers to library use, here are our criteria for regular stops:

Adult Services

Individuals: Books by Mail and Home Service

Individual service is available to Seattle residents who are unable to travel to the library. This may include individuals who have an illness of a six month duration or longer or are living with a disability. Materials are delivered once a month, either through Books by Mail or Home Service delivery.

Residential Facilities and Day Centers

Mobile Services provides monthly library service to retirement homes, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult family homes, and senior centers when a significant number of residents or clients are unable to visit the library due to age or physical or intellectual disability. Facilities must demonstrate interest in participation in the program on the part of residents and complete an application form.

All new lobby stop sites added to the service must primarily serve low-income seniors and/or low-income people with disabilities or be a program whose primary audience is people of color. This includes buildings managed by public housing programs as well as ones that accept Medicaid or vouchers for low-income residents. Any site that requests service will be given an opportunity to demonstrate that they serve a significant number of adults with limited resources.

We offer two types of monthly service:

• Library staff bring carts of materials into the facility, including materials for browsing and items individuals have requested. Library staff check out materials to individuals during the visit.
• We deliver a deposit collection of materials we select based on the facility's requests and preferences.

Children's services

Mobile Services visits preschools and childcare centers that meet all of the following criteria:

• Are within the Seattle city limits
• Have at least 20 children enrolled
• Are not within easy walking distance to a public library branch (5 blocks, no major obstacles)

And meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Are a free or low-cost early learning program for low income families, including the following:
• Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP)
• Head Start
• Seattle Preschool Program
• Are a full or extended day program that accepts at least one of the following subsidies and has at least 25% of students currently using these subsidies:
• City of Seattle Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
• Working Connections Child Care (DSHS)
• Serve primarily students with disabilities.

Priority will be given to programs that serve primarily families at or below 300% of Federal Poverty Guidelines.

We would love to visit your school at the time that works best for your daily routine, but because of finite resources and the need to plan routes geographically, we have limited scheduling flexibility.

For special events we prioritize those that support existing library partnerships and initiatives (that have hopefully been developed with an equity lens) and those that will provide us meaningful interactions with patrons who have multiple barriers to library access.

Let me know if you have any questions or want to chat more about criteria- it's one of my favorite subjects!

Robin

Robin Rousu

Assistant Managing Librarian, Lifelong Access

Community Engagement & Economic Development

206-386-4661

 

The Seattle Public Library

Central Library

1000 Fourth Ave.

Seattle, WA 98104

www.spl.org

 

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From: abos-o...@googlegroups.com <abos-o...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Sally Robertson <bikingl...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 6:04 AM
To: Mike Cleaves <mcle...@rclstn.org>
Cc: ABOS-Outreach <abos-o...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [ABOS-Outreach] Re: Bookmobile Stop Criteria

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[hwaterman]

If we have the staff and resources, we provide service to everyone. Currently, we're able to provide something for every location who's asked for our services. If we reach a point where our schedule is full, we'll determine which locations have priority for in-person services based on a variety of factors, which I think have all been mentioned by other people for their libraries. We won't stop taking them books and things, but we might switch them to a deposit route or mail service option, since staff time and availability is usually our biggest limitation.

[Sally Robertson]

Does anyone here staff bookmobiles or book bikes with volunteers? 

Thanks,

Sally Robertson
The Mt Juliet Book Biking Librarian

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ABOS-Outreach/bf3d45ab-fa8d-45de-a84f-344799c40395n%40googlegroups.com.