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ED 1 9 252 AUTHOR TITL INSTZTUTION PnB bXT2 NoTE ZDRS PRICE DESCI1IPTORS IDDTTIFIBRS ADsTliAC DOCaMENT RESUBB IR 004 028 Bspinosa-1mstica, Julio Bookmobiles in the Virgin islands; a Study of library Service in St Croix, U.S. V.I. . Saint C oix Library Association, Christiansted, V!riri lSlaIid.S. 7") 10p.; dies in Virgin isirid Librar -hip 12 MF-$0.83 H -41.67 P us Post *Bookmobiles; Library Circu *Public Libraries *Virgin Islands (Saint croi - Library servio4s; The St. Crix bookmobile has a greater cuiation than both island libraries despite some seri us breaks in service caussd by equipment fa.iliits, lack of personnel, and bad weather. Radical shifts in the island population liaVe added to the service problems by complicating the planning of routes. Ihere has beer no signficant change or improVement in library services on St. Croix sincs 1958 when the bookmobile was introduced. The island needs an additional bookmobile_to provide more regular service and to add new 4nd proposed communities to the existing routes. (KB) ****_* *****.***** ** .*******- ******* _*********** Documents acquired b include many informal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. MC makes every eff * to obtain the best copy available. Wevertheless0 items of marginal * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (DRS). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * sopplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. ************************************ ********************************** BO KMOB1 ES IN THE VIRGIN A Study of Mobl Library Service In St. Croix, U.S.V.1. by 10 Espinosa-Alnestica Librarian Christi nsted Gramma Copyright 972 by the St. Croix Library ASSOCIWOM 2 April 1972 TOmm4TLI0Q L'brgri _ ANN onCANL7ArIoNL Tor THT AIC/ fs,rtLfir il LLIY:P10N FuhriLLI F [NI:7,0N OLiTNIFA CRL SFR:, TyrsILLA CA- CIA-IA-A- LIM r()PTLLILL.1 OLAN ELI Croix Library Association Chrlstiansted, St. Croix, V.1. PARTNIF NT OF HEALTH. etiocATIoN iEFAE NATIONAL INITITUTE OF FOt1CAVON r-rG OOFUALFN T I-1A% BEEN REPRO OILFET) EXAFTLN, AS PECEIVED PROM Tr-IT FL R#SON OR ORGANIZATION OR IFri s IT OTTINT'l LIF VITW OP OP[NIONS STA T ED OD NOT NFU,: V,ARILY RE PR E. SENT Or F iCIAL NAT IONAL iNSZITUtZ OF E DUCAT ION P05, TION OP POLICY 1 P RE TACE en era whic h cries for inFormation, in fact demands informa ion, it must be prov5ded. The lack of available information will lead to con- jecture and surmise. Naturally libraries of all kinds have tradition- ally provided this information. Because of the rapid expansion of population and the mpid changes in population, culturally, ethnolo- gically, religiously linguistly, etc., brought about by rapid and "reasonable" air travel, the 'recognized" channels of information have been disrupted, and the role of the public :lbrary must charge accord- ingly_ One of the methods of bridging that gap is through the use of mobile libraries, or bookmobiles as they are more commonly known. St. Croix, and the Virgin islands, is fortunate to have had seine exper- lemce in the matter of bookmobiles, and to have had dedicated people in the service of mobile libraries They were on the "front lines," sa to slpeak, and their w rds not onlyre inportant, but demand to be heard. From this study, it will be seen that oblle libraries do have a place In a St. Croix Library System, and it wou d aopear n the other Virgin Islands, The St. C oix Library Associa ion thanks the utor of this "study" in Virgin Islands librarianship, Mr. Julio Espinesa-Almestica, Librarian, Christiansted Grammar School, for his unselfish sharing of his personal experiences with, his community. Undoubtedly this study will have an influence on the planning of future Virgin liandc library systems. Espinosa-Almestica Librariam Christiansted Elementary School Christiansted, St. Croix 010820 uary 4, 972 Mr. Ro ert V. taughr, PresIdent St. Croix Library Association x 1122, Chrlstians ed St. CroIx, VI 00020 Dear Sir, Please atcept my aipoicqy for not having handed thls report %bich i promised a long\ time ago. Your letter has teen Umelq for U have found ti-= to add two supplementary pa and my wife has b kind enough to type out the manuscript . As I mentioned to you before this study Is bae d on my year h the Public Librarkes In St. Croix. There is more whIch I coul bor te on but unfo tunately don't have more time at presemt; rever, I'm willing to help whenever can.. al nclosed Is solely for the use of th y appreciate your interest In Llbrarlanshlp h te Vir ds eap up the good world 4 Sincer y, ad Julio £splrsA jullo Esprinos LIBRARIAN, CPGS lei. LES IN THE VIRGIN I5LANDS 5tatstIcally the Bookmobile has a great r circu and reaches a greater number of people than both libraries put togetherl This is truly emarka le since due to the condt ions rather unique to the i lands our service is rather limited. Per1odcally, the Bookmobile disappears from the public roads, and is laid up from a few days to sometimes yea s. This situation causes great losses both in terms of service to patrons and also in terns of books and materials which cannot be returned to the libraries. For exampl , our fir Bookmobile died during March 1967, we did not resume service unt 1 October, 1970. Of the thousands of books out, we have been able to collect less than one hundred. In view of this possib iity we started from scratch. The new vehicle was loaded with material that had been reserved For it at the Frederik- sted Public Library and what both libraries could furnish from their regular collections. Members had moved, grown up, or left Island so it became nec s ary to re-iregister all patrons in order to keep our records straight. ihe phenominal growth of the Island in those years further compl cated the routes. Places like Castle Burke, Anguilla, Negro Bay, etc. no longer existed while commu ities with hundreds of families now stood on what was once farm land. These routes had to be replanned, tried and readjusted to the new situation. OF course with new residents we had to exp ain the purpose of the Bookmobile, and them to use It. Uut none of the breok In the Bookmobile service have been as long as th s cme and we Nope it can be avoided in the future. counter that out service can be listed as follows: 1. No Bookmobile. 2. No Driver. frequent problems we en.. mum! ES THE VIRGIN SLANDS . No Librarian. 4. Bad Weather. Weather is no long_r the problem It used to be. In the early years most of the secondary roads w -e unpaved and even the most adventuresome would wind up stuck whenever a heavy shower came down. So a storm that lasted a few days meant no servIce f r that much t me. Now with the majority of our roads paved, only a hurr cane will stop the Bookmobile. For the last nine years I must say we have had an eff cient Ilbrarian, but lack of a good driver has hampered bookmobile service mo e than anything else except, mechanical difficulties or no Bookmobile at all. An inadequate salary is the main reason why none of the drivers last very long on their job. Hechanical difficultie- is perhaps the most perplexing problem. Presen the vehicle is down with brakes failuro for o e month. Previously it had to have its gas tank repaired. Un ortunately this situation has been aggravated since the tighter schedule calls for movement on. the Mondays which, before were set aside for maintenance. Repairs must be done by appointment with local garages who usually do a fine job, but are rather reluctant to work on the Bookmobile, because in thoir own words "the government takes too long to pay." As a result the vehici- L put to one side while the better customers are taken care. of. When t- comes to preventive maintenance there are things within our power to remedy. Probably the only reason the original BookmobIle was discarded was the deterioration. The roof rusted beyond repair, the glass windows were broken along with numerous scratches and dents inflicted by vandals. The inside was rather faded but useable. Given the proper protection oCan enclosed garage It would have lasted longer and given much less trouble. This is further proven out hf we cons der that it is used no more than eight hours a day, and remains parked 6 BOO B .ES IM THE VIRG. M _I4ANDS all weekends and holida The Bookmobile was originally meant to service the library needs of twelve thousand people on St. Croix. Today equipped with the same amount of stuff it is trying to cover a population three times larger. Plans are in the making to build new libraries in the major populat on centers like Sion Farm and Mon Bijou. Sion Farm at present hes a total of some four hundred homes and Mon Bijou, count- ing the last section, can house ov r five hundred families. Each of these more than qualifies to have a small branch library of its own. The Bookmobile would then be free to visit other smaller comnunities like Paradise, Grove Place, and Tide Village on a regular basis Routes now are on an alternate schedule, whi means that if you miss one day, it will be a whole month before the people in that area will see you again. The ideal Is to visit every area once a week. But, even with a branch at Sion Farm and Mon Bijou this would be difficult to accomplish. Perhaps you have asked youself, why couldn't the Bookmobile oper te during the day? Well, In the United States, Bookmobiles are operated during regular working hours. But locally this is impractical. In most homes here, both husband and wife work, and the child en of pre-schoci age are left in the care of a maid, or grandmother. Students normally get home around three o'clock while grown-ups do not return until five or six o'clock. Because of possible mechanical problems, besides incOnvenienCe to personnel it is inadvisable to be out beyond seven o'clock, which means the Bookmobile has only four hours to run one day s schedule. The population and the number of mmaller communities will not justify a small rary in each. For one, there would be too much duplication of materIals. It would also be costly to have even a nUmber of part-time librarians and a book depository in each. On the other hand, a second properly-staffed Bookmobile .5. 7 BOOKMO_ILES IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS would fulfi 1 these needs and prove to be less expensive. This would seem superfluous at this time. But 1 consider how many new communities are being planned or are in construction: Paradise, Williams Delight, W.I.M. Hodge Pavilion, the development of Stra berry, Glynn, and so on. The second Bookmobile would also be used as a back up vehicle to supplement, in case of a breakdown. This would all but guarantee efficient library service to all the and. Some of these ideas are being considered and perhaps in another ten years they will become re lity. If conditions on the Island remain the same it would just be a matter of time but, unfortunately, St. Croix continues growing at the same rate. Something must be done so we can truly "Take the Library to Our People-" Supplement Rural Library Service, March 1971 Rural communities In St. Croix are scattered clusters of homes. These are situated on plots of land measuring from 1/4 to several acres. Most lie along paved secondary roads and can easily be reached by a Bookmobile. By far, the great majority of the people of St. roix live in these homes which dot the entire island, except for the extreme north-west. Pr ncess is the largest single estate that fa Is under this classification. Planned communities are little towns constructed by private enterprises. Most of these have provisiOns for recreational and cultural centers but very few have a physical structure that could house a library. .I4hat is most str king Is that some like non Bijou and Sion Farm have more people than the town of Frederik- sted proper. From these observat ons we can say that when th- people moved to the country the library did not go with them. -6- BOOKMOBILES IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS Socio-economic fac o dictate the above to be the movement and growth trends in the population of St. Croix for the rest of the century. Since the advent of the Bookmobile in 1958, there has been no significant change Oa nt in Public Library service. With the collective efforts of the St. Croix Library Assoc( tion w'e can take the library back to the people. It is my sin erest hope that t is short study will be reviewed critically and improved upon to make a more meaningful and comprehensive plan. Cc_afTir2_iunitt Mon Bijou Sion Farm Camporico William's Delight A.D. Kora es Humbug Profit Paradise Peppertree Mt. Welcome Tide Village Princess Soffarelli Grove Place Catherine's Rest Colquohoun Anna's Hope West End East End Concordia Glynn Strawberry Golden Rock Librar Service 971 Bookmobile Service Action Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Partla No No No No No Oiscor1tlriued for S.F. 6 K.B. = Under Construction Too near to CPL Too near t- fPL --- Not enough time Cut short for S.F. & M.B. Rot enough patronage Discontinued for S.F. & M.S. Not enough time Under Construct_on Too Near to CPL limaL±221121mitt 0 PC ND PC PC TP PC PC ND PC Abbr viations: M.B. Mon Bijou; S.F. - Sion Farm; D - Private Houseing Develop- ment or Gromps of Private Romes; PC - Planned Community; A-Rural; NO - Government NouS ng Development for Low-income Families. -7= BOOKMOBILES I . THE viRGIN ISLANDS Bibliography American Library Association, "Where Will All the Children Go7" AMERICAN LIBRARIES Jan. 1971, pps. 56-60. American Library P5sociati n, STANDARDS OF QUALITY FOR BOOKMOBILE SERVICE, Chicago, A.L.A 1963, 16p. Gers enslager Company, THE ROOKNOB1LE STORY, Wooster, Ohio, The Gerstensloger Co 21p. Healy, Eugene, "Bookmobiles, A Somewhat Closer Look," AMERICAN LIBRARIES, Jan. 1571, pps. 56-60. Library Journal, "A 2000-Volume Bookmobile for Under $10,000," LIBRARY JOURNAL, Dec. 1, 1971, p. 3934. Louisiana, State of, BOOKMOBILE SPECIFICATIONS, Bo kmobile Standards Committee, Field Services, Louisiana State Library, Baton Rouge-, March 1966, 24p. Pennell, Lois G., THE BOOKMOBILE - A NEW LOOK, The Public LIbrary Reporter, No. 14, Chicago, A.L.A., 1969. Library Journal, "Toronto Libraries Cooperate: Joint Services Studied," SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, Jan. 1972, p. Wilson Library Bulletin, "Indian Library Aides and a Librarian Friend," ILSON LIBRARY BULLETIN, Dec. 1971 pps. 324-325. 10