{"id":8469,"date":"2025-03-18T16:31:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T19:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8469"},"modified":"2025-03-19T10:30:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T13:30:15","slug":"last-bookmobile-in-nova-scotia-delivers-books-community-along-south-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/03\/18\/last-bookmobile-in-nova-scotia-delivers-books-community-along-south-shore\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Bookmobile in Nova Scotia delivers books, community along South Shore"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Susie and Joan Stephenson of Port Joli visit the Bookmobile recently at its stop in Port Mouton. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s the last one in Nova Scotia. And it\u2019s still motoring along the South Shore.<\/p>\n

Each week, the Bookmobile brings books, DVDs and other materials to about 15 communities in Lunenburg and Queens counties, from Chester to Caledonia.<\/p>\n

A mobile library has been operating on the South Shore since the 1970s.<\/p>\n

Other library systems around Nova Scotia have stopped the service. The Cape Breton Regional Library had the only other one and it retired its Bookmobile in November 2024.<\/p>\n

So now, the South Shore has the only remaining Bookmobile in the province. And it shows no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n

Ashley Nunn-Smith is the CEO and chief librarian of South Shore Public Libraries.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Bookmobile has been on the road for 50 years. But it\u2019s much beloved, it\u2019s very much a fabric of the community. For example, a few weeks ago, we had someone bring the books out to Caledonia in their van because the Bookmobile was having some mechanical issues and not only did people come out to pick up their items, but they had almost like a tailgate party. They just hung around the back of the van and chatted with their neighbours. There was nothing keeping them there other than that sense of community.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not just about the books, although that’s wonderful to drive books out to people. It\u2019s really about a sense of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joan Stephenson of Port Joli was at a recent Bookmobile stop at Coastal Queens Place in Port Mouton. Stephenson and her daughter Susie are some of the regular patrons the Bookmobile serves every three weeks at this location. It visits certain communities on a weekly basis, while others are on a tri-weekly schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remember when we had to fight to get a Bookmobile because the county didn’t want it,” Stephenson says. “And instead they put streetlights on our road and fought the Bookmobile, and we said it\u2019s a different kind of enlightenment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2021, the library put a new custom-built Bookmobile on the road at a cost of about $500,000, with an accessibility lift, Wi-fi and seven electrical outlets where people can charge their devices.<\/p>\n

Last year, the mobile service had an average of 1,100 monthly visitors who checked out 3,000 items, accounting for about 15 per cent of the library\u2019s overall visits and circulation. Fuel and maintenance take up about two per cent of the library\u2019s total $1.9-million operating budget.<\/p>\n

Nunn-Smith says that because the South Shore has fewer physical library locations than other library systems around Nova Scotia, having the Bookmobile is essential.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that by having the library on wheels we can bring it to more spaces than we would be able to reach with brick and mortar locations. We\u2019re able to reach more communities that we wouldn\u2019t be able to otherwise. We reach Port Mouton and Mill Village. Those places, it wouldn\u2019t be feasible to operate a library branch, and so we\u2019re able to bring the library to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susie Stephenson says she remembers the anticipation as a kid waiting for the Bookmobile to visit, a feeling she still has years later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we lived in Broad River, we all went and we’d come home with clothes baskets full of books. The eight of us would just sit around and read. And you\u2019d do it until you had to eat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes it accessible and it keeps me in reading material. And it keeps me interested and not depressed. I can sit and read a book and look at it. … I\u2019ll take two or three bags lots of times.”<\/p>\n

Her mother Joan says it\u2019s something she looks forward to every three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t be away too long. My husband’s disabled. So it\u2019s fun to come here. And the wonderful thing is the people who drive and work on the Bookmobile over all these years we\u2019ve had it have always become our friends. They know what you’re looking for and we laugh. They want to know how your trip was or how your surgery was. They become friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love it. We love the Bookmobile. I\u2019m an old lady and hopefully it will outlive me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bookmobile visits Caledonia every Saturday from 10 a.m to noon in the NSLC parking lot. It will be back in Mill Village at the fire hall on April 4 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and in Port Mouton at Coastal Queens Place on April 4 from 2 to 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

You can find the schedule for the Bookmobile on the South Shore Public Libraries website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/new_southshorebookmobilemar1825.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the last one in Nova Scotia. And it\u2019s still motoring along the South Shore. Each week, the Bookmobile brings books, DVDs and other materials to about 15 communities in Lunenburg and Queens counties, from Chester to Caledonia. A mobile library has been operating on the South Shore since the 1970s. Other library systems around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[910,370,2868,2965,2914,792,241,1355,1053,49,1967,830,248,2964],"class_list":["post-8469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-ashley-nunn-smith","tag-bookmobile","tag-books","tag-joan-stephenson","tag-libraries","tag-library","tag-nova-scotia","tag-port-joli","tag-port-mouton","tag-queens-county","tag-reading","tag-south-shore","tag-south-shore-public-libraries","tag-susie-stephenson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8469"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8481,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8469\/revisions\/8481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}