Celebrate National Bookmobile Day with New Bedford’s Bookmobile

Wednesday, April 11th is National Bookmobile Day and New Bedford is fortunate enough to be taking part in the celebration!Many folks don't realize that New Bedford has a bookmobile that has been in operation since the 1950's. This little library on wheels travels throughout New Bedford for about 25 hours each week bringing the library to parts of our community that may have an otherwise difficult time getting to one.

In March alone, the New Bedford Bookmobile had more than 950 guests come on board and check out a combined 2,911 books. Wilks Library Brank Manager Karen Stefanik says, surprisingly, most of the guests onboard are kids.

95% of the bookmobile stops are by children. We go to a lot of schools. The other stops we make are to neighborhoods that may not have easy access to a library, like the Sassaquin neighborhood, and to places like nursing homes and adult daycare facilities.

Stefanik says that new books are ordered each month and fly off of the shelves as quickly as they are put on.

We always encourage people to stop in.  If they see the bookmobile and are unsure if they can go on or not, YES, come on. You can use the SAILS library card to check things out just like you would at any of our other local libraries.

To celebrate National Library Week, the New Bedford Bookmobile will be parked downtown as part of the city's monthly AHA night. This is a great chance for you to see the city's little library on wheels- one of only a few in the entire state.

We’re very lucky to have one.  The closest one to us, I believe, are in Worcester and Natick.

The current bookmobile is the 3rd generation bookmobile for the city; it is 12 years old. Prior to it hitting the roads, a red and yellow version (seen below) debuted in the 1970s.  For a complete bookmobile schedule, click here.