When I was listening to the lecture on hyperlinked communities, I couldn’t help but think about how people access libraries in terms of transportation. In most contexts and especially in cities, people are maybe a walk or short drive away from their public library. What does it mean for folks who are further away, don’t have access to a vehicle, or lack access to public transportation? I was drawn to the title of one of the articles in this week’s module: The necessary nearness—an ode to bookmobiles (Lauersen, 2025) In this article, the author writes about how the bookmobile, or bus filled with books, creates a nearness to community and information through access to books and information professionals. “According to Statistics Denmark, the use of public libraries is strongly dependent on how far citizens live from their nearest library. Almost 50% of all library users live within 1,500 meters of their nearest physical public library…” For reference 1,500 meters is less than a mile. According to Donnelly’s article on average distances in the US from libraries: “The national average population-weighted distance to the nearest public library is 2.1 miles.” (Donnelly, 2015) How does this distance affect those who want to access libraries and what resources are available for those in regions where that distance is greater?
I know that in this module we read about engaging patrons and the public through various activities, programs, and community building, however, I find the idea of accessibility or just the fundamental idea of getting to the library vital and key to everything else found in that library. In the lecture it was mentioned that Community Closet was open and free to use by library patrons which also touches on this concept of ease of access and thinking of the whole person. It is open so that anyone who feels hesitation or anxiety about the accessing these food and personal items will not have another barrier to necessary goods i.e. asking staff. How can we address the other barriers that people might have in accessing the library itself? How can we reach out to folks who might feel overwhelmed by their lack of transport to the library in addition to bookmobiles?
One way to make getting to the library easier is the intersection of public transportation and libraries. Here are some examples I found across the US:
Although I live north of Seattle now, I appreciate the Seattle Public Library’s informational guide on accessing the library through public transportation.
Library train in Sacramento.
Digital displays of bus and train times in the Boston area.
References:
Donnelly, F. P. (2015). Regional variations in average distance to public libraries in the United States. Library & Information Science Research, 37(4), 280–289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2015.11.008
Lauersen, C. (2025, February 5). The necessary nearness – an ode to bookmobiles. The Library Lab. https://christianlauersen.net/2025/02/05/the-necessary-nearness-and-ode-to-bookmobiles/
@mistara I think the examples you provided at the end are really interesting, especially the library train in Sacramento. I have never seen anything like that, but I think it is a great idea for promoting library resources. The digital display of bus and train times is also a great resource that libraries can offer to make this information more readily accessible to their patrons.
In regards to reaching patrons further out in the community who are unable to come into the physical building, bookmobiles are an option as well as library outposts/vending machines. I have seen more libraries investing in these options, and I think they are great way to offer library resources in parts of the community that are hard to reach. A few examples are the New Orleans Public Library’s vending machine and the Spokane Public Library’s kiosks.
Hi Tara – Thank you for bringing up the point that a library’s location can be an access barrier. I work at a rural technical college, and this is a huge issue for us. There is no public transportation route to our campus, and this is commonly cited as a problem by students. We just try to do our best to make accommodations for students. The college has small offices (but no library) in near by cities, and we make arrangements for staff to ferry laptop and textbook checkouts between the locations. It is not a great system, but we do our best to reach the students.
@mistara this post resonated with me because of the work I’m doing with the local library and the new building. One of the things that was high on the list of finding a place for the library to renovate and move into was it should be roughly a mile from elk Rapids schools we actually found that place and I think it will make a big difference for students accessing the library. because we are so rural here there will be a bit of driving involved for residence of the village as well as the townships.