New
Mobile Library Now Serving the Community
The
brightly decorated new Negroni-Hendrick Mobile Library van is rapidly
becoming a familiar sight along county roads and in local neighborhoods.
Thanks to a successful fund-raising campaign last year, which included
a generous $50,000 contribution by local residents Dee Negroni and Don
Hendrick, for whom the van is named, the Brevard Library Foundation
was able to purchase and turn over to the county library system a 26-foot
Utilimaster aluminum van, mounted on a new Ford E450 commercial truck
chassis.
The county, in turn, took title to
the $96,000 vehicle and added
 another
$18,000 to equip it with four computer stations, books and other improvements.
Obtaining a fully-equipped “library on wheels” has been a long-time
goal of the foundation, in addition to purchasing more books for children
and funding supplemental library programs. The purpose of the mobile
van is to bring a full range of library services to youngsters, adults
and seniors who are not able to travel to any of the county’s
17 libraries.
According to Cathy Schweinsberg, director of Brevard County Library
Services, the new mobile library began operations in late May of 2006
with a morning visit to a pre-school facility and later that afternoon
to a senior citizen care center. That is the schedule the mobile library
will maintain, visiting a youth facility in the morning and stopping
at an elder center in the afternoon, she said.
The Negroni-Henrick Mobile Library is on the road four days a week,
Monday through Thursday, with Fridays reserved for maintenance and completion
of paperwork. Two fulltime librarians are assigned to the van and direct
the programs, which include singing, puppet shows and storytimes for
children and nostalgia music and computer training for adults.
Each month, the librarians pick a theme, such as pets, favorite songs
or hobbies, and then design programs around that theme. In addition
to the programs, children and 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.
Schweinsberg said the mobile library program has been very well received
and books up completely each month. “For instance, we only had one opening
in August and it filled in a day,” she said. “We’re thrilled with how
the community is responding to this new service.”
Library Foundation Director Ned Kellar said the community’s reception
of the new mobile library has been extremely satisfying for foundation
members.
“We really worked hard to raise the money for this service because we
saw a need to serve thousands of Brevard County youngsters and elderly
adults who are not able to get to one of our libraries on their own,”
he said. “The new Negroni-Hendrick Mobile Library will go a long way
in addressing the needs of these children and seniors.”
For more information
about the mobile library or the work of the foundation, contact Executive
Director Ned Kellar at the foundation office at (321) 633-1887 or send
him an email at nkellar@brev.org
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