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Newport News Public Libraries celebrate first National Bookmobile Day

Opportunities for free giveaways aboard the Bookmobile

Libraries on wheels are being celebrated on April 14 during the first-ever National Bookmobile Day. The Newport News Public Library System is celebrating National Bookmobile Day with a youth bookmark design contest and free giveaways aboard the Bookmobile.

The Bookmobile, pictured in front of Main Street Library, provides mobile library services throughout Newport News.

Libraries on wheels are being celebrated on April 14 during the first-ever National Bookmobile Day.

The Newport News Public Library System is celebrating National Bookmobile Day with a youth bookmark design contest and free giveaways aboard the Bookmobile.

Anyone aged 17 or younger can create a bookmark illustration to demonstrate the importance of the Bookmobile. The winning design will be printed on the Library System’s bookmarks for distribution throughout the Libraries and the community. Designs should be created on the bookmark entry form available from the Bookmobile, children’s desk of any Newport News Public Library, or the Library System’s website.  Entry forms should be turned in by April 30 to any of the Newport News Public Libraries or the Bookmobile.

The Newport News Public Library System’s Bookmobile brings valuable resources to Newport News communities every Monday through Thursday. It is wheelchair accessible. The schedule of stops is available online at http://www.nngov.com/library/resources/bkmschedule.

“With the Bookmobile, it’s a lot of personal service,” said Kim Villarreal, senior information services specialist with the Bookmobile. “Since most of our people have been coming week after week for years, we can choose a selection of books and movies for them. They don’t ask for specific titles; we just bring out every week what they like. So many are disabled or don’t have transportation and can’t go to the Library. It’s their only way.”

For more information about the Bookmobile, please call Main Street Library at 757-591-4858.

For more than 100 years, bookmobiles have provided access to information and technology and supply resources for life-long learning to Americans of all walks of life, no matter where they are – rural areas, cities, or suburbs. 

Part of National Library Week, National Bookmobile Day is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), the Association for Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS), the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL). It is planned to become an annual event.

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