OLANTA, S.C. (WBTW) — The Olanta Public Library is trying a new way to get tis services to residents — a book bike.
“This has been four years coming, and I’m really excited that we have it now,” Robert Slabaugh, the library’s branch manager, said.
Slabaugh said the book bike will enable the librarians to take to the streets. For the first month or so, it will be used to pass out free books. After that, it will transition into a full-service library on wheels.
“We’ll have the laptop, the hotspot, and we’ll be able to check people out on library cards,” Slabuagh said.
He said he started looking into book bikes after reading about how one was used in Colorado and realizing that some people can’t make it to the library.
“Olanta has a lot of people who just don’t have transportation,” he said. “Just because they can’t come in here, doesn’t mean the library can’t come to them.”
Slabaugh said the book bike will travel to two different locations every Tuesday and Friday, including the local IGA and town hall. He hopes it will help promote programs like summer reading and will increase membership.
“We have programs that we put on pretty much every month of the year, and we can put flyers here to advertise those,” he said. “Because we do care about the people in town.”