Reflection Blog: Hyperlinked Environments

Bookmobiles are Hyperlinked Environments.

I have been thinking a lot about how social media engagement has become such a central part of many people’s lives, mine included. I scroll on Instagram daily, and because I engage with it so much the algorithm knows about all the things I am interested, including libraries. So, since starting this MLIS program, I have come up on A LOT of library related content on social media. Some of the content I get most frequently comes from the Santa Clara City Library instagram account. As part of a marketing strategy, they post mostly comedy Instagram Reels and TikToks that follow current video trends and using trending audio, but make it library specific. They have a “cast of characters” that show up consistently in their videos, and one of them is the bookmobile librarian. Before I started seeing this content, I of course knew that bookmobiles existed and understood it as a “non-traditional” library settings, but it was the combination of the mobile library environment and the features on social media that really got me thinking about how all this very much falls under the Hyperlinked Library model.

I wanted to find out the history of the Santa Clara City Bookmobile specifically since it was their online content that really started the ball rolling for me. Unfortunately, the city library didn’t have much information online about their bookmobile other than it’s stop schedule, BUT the Santa Clara County library system which has their own bookmobile had an awesome webpage dedicated to their bookmobile that gave me a better idea about the historical and modern function of mobile libraries in the area. At the bottom of the page there was a timeline of the history of the county bookmobile, showing its start in 1953 and the immediate success and popularity it had among patrons. It goes on to discuss the expansion of the program, then the discontinuation of some services due to budget constraints. Further reductions happen at the same time that the program itself shifts to try and emulate the different services provided at library branches, such as access to technology and different forms of media other than books. Today, it is a full program with over 50 stops serving rural areas, isolated communities such as retirement homes and other care facilities, and preschools (About the Bookmobile Services, n.d.).

The bookmobile timeline is a great example of showing how in Santa Clara their bookmobile is a hyperlinked environment. They are engaging in constant and purposeful change, some of which was being forced due to budget changes, but some of it was in listening to patrons and wanting to fill gaps in materials and information access. You can sign up for a library card, check out DVDs and CDs and video games, request materials, and use technology like laptops all from a bookmobile like you could from a branch library, all because there was a need for it from the community and the library was creative enough with their resources to make it happen (About the Bookmobile Services, n.d.;Bookmobile| Santa Clara City Library, n.d.). The bookmobiles of the 1950s wouldn’t serve the community well today, but the program has continued because it has evolved and embraced the changes in the environment and community to remain relevant and useful.

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