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Seven months ago, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans and state Sen. Jeremy Cooney cut a ribbon in front of a small purple van, welcoming it to the Rochester Public Library system. Now, that van is beginning to move its wheels past the library and into the streets of Rochester.
“I was proud to secure state funding to help make this project a reality and work alongside Mayor Evans to get this van on the streets serving our community,” says Cooney, who secured a $100,000 state grant for the library vehicle. “Literacy belongs to everyone.”
This van, small in size but packed with books, computers and printers, is the library’s newest rendition of the traditional bookmobile—a library on wheels that can make services accessible in places other than a brick-and-mortar library.
For the majority of the work week, this van—RPL GO!—is reserved for use by organizations and festivals for special events, such as the recent Lilac Festival. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, it may be seen traversing the northwest region of Rochester in the areas surrounding the RPL’s Lyell branch, which houses the project.
Emily Clasper, director of the Rochester Public Library and Monroe County Library System, says RPL GO! both expands visibility of the library system and provides library services to people who might not otherwise have access to them.
“There are portions of (the northwest) area of the city where folks need library services but don’t necessarily have great access to transportation, and so that’s where part of this came from,” Clasper says. “Let’s try to bring this into those neighborhoods, where folks were expressing that they don’t have transportation all the time to get to a physical library branch.”
RPL GO! brings more than just books to neighborhoods and events. It functions as a hotspot, and its staff can provide assistance with research, technology, and literacy. Depending on where the van is headed, its staff packs printers, fax machines, computers, library cards, books, and more into the vehicle.
BJ Scannon II, deputy director of the community libraries, notes that people “think of libraries as the libraries of yesteryear and not the libraries of today.”
Scannon and Clasper say this is a common misconception, one that they hope RPL GO! can help address.
Part of RPL GO!’s modernity comes from its unique design. While most bookmobiles focus on bringing people to them, Clasper says, RPL GO! brings its materials out to the people, with the book display outside the van.
This design was in part created by design students from Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Art & Design. Under the guidance of adjunct faculty Kelly Jahn, 14 students proposed two designs for a mobile library. RPL took elements from both designs to create the final product.
Organizations and festivals can request the van through RPL’s website. It will make appearances at Harborfest, the Rochester Jazz Festival, and the Rochester Pride Festival.
Natalie Opdahl is a student at the University of Rochester and a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
Thanks for this article. This bookmobile was my project beginning in 2020 during the pandemic with the Greater Rochester Parent Leadership Training Institute. It’s been amazing to see it come to life.
A great idea that needs to be perfected. As a grade school kid, the bookmobile parked on Lyell Ave. at the end of my street for at least an hour once a week, brought books before parking at a different location in another neighborhood. It was a city bus converted to shelves for all kinds of books.
I read every sports biography before moving to biographies of famous Americans. It fueled by love of reading by giving access to the diverse minds that lived for decades and centuries before I was around. In my case, nothing was more important educationally than to bring the library to my street for free and easy access to books. In my opinion this is a great move that should be expanded.