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Thanks to generous contributions from Brevard Library Foundation members, local individuals and businesses, the colorful Negroni-Hendrick Mobile Library will return to a full schedule of service in the community this fall.

Earlier this year, budget constraints forced Brevard County Library Services to trim one day off the full four-day-a-week schedule of bringing books and literary programs to young children and older adults who cannot easily come into one of the counties’ 17 libraries.

In announcing the foundation’s fund drive last spring, Executive Director Ned Kellar noted that cutting one day of service each week would result in the loss of more than 1,700 contacts with children and 400 contacts with older adults over a year’s time.
The goal set by the foundation was to raise $15,000, which library officials said was the amount needed to restore the fourth day of operation. The program serves all areas of Brevard County, from Mims to Micco. “I’m delighted to announce that donations by local individuals and businesses have brought in $15,432 to date, more than enough to maintain a full year of mobile library operations when the program resumes in October,” Kellar said. “I want to thank all those who gave so generously to help us keep this very worthy program going at full strength,” he said, adding, “It is especially heartwarming to receive this support during these tough economic times.”
One of the first large contributors to the fund-rasing campaign was the Boeing Employees Community Fund, which donated $2,500 in April. The foundation also mailed out more than 2,200 requests for donations to the campaign, which Kellar called “Back to a Fourth Day or Return to the Past for the Future.”

The mobile library first went on the road in May of 2006, following its purchase by the library foundation earlier that year. The unit was named for local residents Dee Negroni and Don Hendrick, who contributed $50,000 to the foundation to purchase and equip the 26-foot-long van. The total cost of the vehicle was $110,000 and it is equipped with computers, a satellite dish and shelves full of books and periodicals.

During a typical month under the full, four-day-a-week schedule, the Negroni-Hendrick Mobile Library makes an average of 22-pre-school stops, presenting 60 programs to 632 children and giving out 647 books. Also, the van averages 18 visits to senior facilities during a typical month, presenting 23 programs to 218 elderly residents and giving away an average of 162 books.

The mobile van is headquartered at the Central Brevard Library and Reference Center in Cocoa and is under the supervision of Library Director Cathy Schweinsberg. Each month, the librarians pick a theme, such as pets, favorite songs or hobbies, and then design a program around that theme. In addition to the programs, children and elderly adults are encouraged to peruse the built-in- bookshelves to select reading matter. Also, the library distributes free books at each stop for those who want them.

For more information about the mobile library or the work of the foundation, contact Kellar at (321) 633-1887 or email him at nkellar@brev.org.