The BCPL Book Express and BCPL Book Mobile along with the Donut Central truck park outside the library during the Fall-o-ween event at the Bartholomew County Public Library in Columbus, Ind. Wednesday, October 26, 2022. Carla Clark | For The Republic
The Bartholomew County Public Library is looking forward to having a new vehicle for one of its outreach programs after more than a year of waiting.
Director Jason Hatton recently shared with the library’s board of trustees that a new van for the Book Express, which was ordered in October 2021, is expected to arrive in May or June of this year.
“Thankfully, the current one has held on and hopefully will continue until June,” said Hatton. “…Staff are working on some new branding and possibly a new name to start that, once we have the vehicle, to kind of reinvigorize, so to speak, that venture.”
The mission of the Book Express is to “help children of all ages in low-income neighborhoods foster a love of reading through the distribution of new and gently used free books.”
The program is coordinated in partnership with the Literary Task Force and Meridian Kiwanis Club.
“The Book Express uses donations and grant funding to give away free books to underserved communities throughout the county, with the expectation that patrons will keep those books for their own home collection,” assistant library director Angela Eck wrote in a recent column for The Republic. “Some Bookmobile and Book Express patrons have told library staff that their visits are the only access they have to books and other library resources.”
In 2022, the Book Express made 287 visits to stops around the county and gave away more than 11,000 books.
More information, including Book Express’s visit schedule, is available at mybcpl.org/book-express.
