On Friday, July 20, 2018, the Digital Bookmobile visited the town of Pickerington, OH. This old country village transformed to a major city in 1965 and has provided library services to the community for over 100 years. One of the great services Pickerington Public Library offers is their ebook and audiobook collection. With over 125,000 titles available 24/7 through Libby, patrons can instantly borrow and enjoy titles.
To help promote this service, the Digital Bookmobile stopped by for a day of education and fun. Assistant Director Donna Matturri welcomed us with open arms and coffee! Yes, the Little Red Coffee Van by Reuel Cruz attended the event alongside the Digital Bookmobile to offer delicious tastings from iced to hot coffee. What better way to spend a rainy Friday afternoon than with coffee and a good read.
But that wasn’t all the surprises for the day. Library mascot Violet made a special stop at the Digital Bookmobile. Violet is named after Violet Township and I’ve heard she has a pretty extensive wardrobe. She helped bring cheer to the event and had me running out of the bookmobile to see what a cow was doing at the library.
Next, we met Sara. Sara is a resident of Pickerington, OH who loves libraries so much so that her favorite coffee mug says, “Library”. While walking past the Digital Bookmobile, Sara told us that she lived in Korea for three and a half years and she borrowed ebooks and audiobooks from Pickerington Public Library while teaching English. She said it was great because English titles were more expensive to buy in Korea, and they took up more space in her suitcase. Borrowing ebooks and audiobooks from her home library was a convenient way to access the library when she was gone.
Sara reminded me how vital libraries are at keeping you connected to your community, even when you’re thousands of miles away.
When I looked across the street, I couldn’t help but notice a high school within the award winning Pickerington Local School District. They recently received the 2018 Distinguished District Award from the International Society for Technology in Education. Director of Instructional Technology Brian Seymor brought up a term Tradigital in an episode of Perspectives on Reading which I encourage you to watch. He has some great ideas on incorporating technology into the classroom, including ebooks and audiobooks.
At the end of our event, we saw a total of 90 visitors. Donna stated, “The event was great! We had many customers express interest in learning about ebooks, and those already using OverDrive, interested in exploring Libby. Set-up was simple, easy, and fast – we were able to get everything ready, and staff on board to explore the bookmobile. The bookmobile staff were so helpful and knowledgeable – we learned a few new tricks for staff!”
To view more photos from the event, click here.