Supervisor Kathryn Barger announced that the Board of Supervisors has approved two new bookmobiles for the 5th district – one each for the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys.
“Many of our rural communities in the 5th district are currently served by bookmobiles and they continue to provide vital learning resources for our residents—particularly young people and students,” said Supervisor Barger. “The new state-of-the-art vehicles will improve and enhance this vital service and provide more reliable and consistent service.”
The new bookmobiles will expand the digital library services by providing Wi-Fi hotspots, laptop or tablet computers for patron use and will allow staff to check out library materials and register new customers to the library database.
Los Angeles County has utilized bookmobiles to bring library materials, information, and programs to neighborhoods without easy access to a community library cities and unincorporated areas since 1949. The existing fleet is aging and continues to experience frequent mechanical problems partly due to the many miles covered and some tougher conditions. The current SCV bookmobile entered service in 2001 and the Antelope Valley Bookmobile entered service in 2010, although the vehicle is a 2006 model. The new fleet of bookmobiles will be eco-friendly gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles.