The bookmobile is open and is stocked with adult fiction. The search is on for volunteers with library or clerical skills to provide service 32 hours a week: Mondays from 1 to 9 p.m.; Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed state holidays and operating on school inclement weather schedules. Phone calls will be answered by the Cleveland Library at 919-661-6565. Bookmobile users will use Cleveland Library cards and have access to Cleveland’s 120,000 book and movie collection and InterLibrary loan services.
When Cleveland Library staff proposed the library and bookmobile concept to the public, a group of Baptist women funded the first lumber for building bookcases; Baptist Men under the direction of Virgil Brown designed and started insulating and building shelves. After a year, others from the community got involved under the leadership of Kenneth Creech. Building library shelving continues as the library expands its collection to provide for the needs of thousands of residents. Funds are being raised to buy books for the children’s library, pay for the bookcases, and the operating expenses to keep this service available. No tax dollars are used to house these books in Cleveland.
The bookmobile is a remodeled shipping container, with added foam board insulation, plain pine board shelving, lights, heat, and air conditioning. It was designed to supplement rather than duplicate the county services and serve as a mobile library annex, which could be relocated and set up elsewhere in the area within 24 hours. By using the container body instead of a bus body, the community saved $300,000. A world-wide excess of shipping containers made this an eco-friendly method of reuse and both the R-30 insulation and new low mercury, low energy lights reduce pollution and save electrical costs. LEDs were still too costly for the limited funds the library had available for the project.
Donations may be mailed or delivered to Cleveland Library, 5533 NC HWY 42 W STE D96, Garner, NC 27529.
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