By Benjamin Schiller (NCC News) Liverpool, N.Y. –
The Liverpool Public Library is not your typical community spot. Hidden away in its below ground parking garage, is its library to go on four wheels.
Yes, the Liverpool Library has a mobile library van that travels around the town.
“We use our van to go out to the community, when the community can’t come to us,” said Deanna McGregor, Community Engagement Director at the Liverpool Public Library,
It’s a van, equipped with necessities, like a wireless router, a printer, and supplies you would normally see at a local library.
The van hit the road for the first time this past summer, thanks to a grant.
“This came from an ARPA Grant that we received from the government from during COVID to give people access to internet, just in case they were struggling with that,” said McGregor.
McGregor says children are one of the target populations for the mobile library.
“So, we go to parks where children, maybe, are at during the summer. And so, we have story time so we could read to them, and we have educational activities that they do,” said McGregor.
McGregor says the other target population for the van are groups that don’t know how to work their smartphones or don’t have internet access.
According to a May 2022 study conducted by Falk College at Syracuse University, nearly one in six households in Onondaga County don’t have access to broadband internet.
The van is free to the community. It’s simple. All you need to do is meet the van in the community or in the parking garage of the library, and just hop right in and submit your assignment.
The Liverpool Library is also hosting a toy drive with the local Salvation Army. The library is also asking for mitten donations for its mitten tree, and will be given to people in need.