Bookmobile News

Thanks to a referral by our friends at the San Francisco Chapter of the Women’s National Book Association, the Ohio-based Junior Library Guild has made a generous donation of beautiful children’s books to the Free Bookmobile.  ”Collection Development for Every Library” is the JLG’s motto, and they offer a range of services to help libraries nationwide build their collections conscientiously.  Fortunately for us they had some returns on hand and were able to donate a huge stack of top-notch hardcover titles, including a number in Spanish and bilingual format.  We can’t wait to get these on board and start distributing to local families who will build both literacy and relationships by reading together!

The sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students at Lawrence E. Jones Middle School in Rohnert Park collected 600 children’s books and 109 adult books during a drive they held during the first two weeks of school.  Integrity, service, perseverance, and discovery are the cornerstones of the middle school, which are based on the life and values of Officer Jones, the school’s namesake.  Each year the first four days at the middle school are spent on a service project focused on developing and promoting the cornerstones.  This year the 850 students were asked to bring cans of food and books to be donated to local non-profits. The children were so excited by the effort that it was decided the drives would continue for an additional week.

English Department Chairperson Amy Riebli advocated for donating the books to the Free Bookmobile of Sonoma County.  Ms. Riebli saw the Free Bookmobile in action at the Cotati tree-lighting event last year and thought it was an “amazing concept and was eager to continue to support it.”

Glen Weaver, Director of the Free Bookmobile of Sonoma County, is awed by the generosity of the students at Lawrence E. Jones Middle School.  “It’s inspiring to see the spirit of sharing start at an early age.  The kids did an amazing job with their collecting, bringing in great books for toddlers, early readers, even for teens and adults.  We are honored to facilitate the distribution of these books to promote literacy and the love of reading in our community.  There will be a lot of smiles on the faces of Free Bookmobile patrons!”