A Stationary Parade of Bookmobiles

Bookmobiles were again on view Sunday, parked outside McCormick Place, at ALA's third annual Parade of Bookmobiles event. Visitors could examine both the exteriors and interiors of vehicles from the Warren-Newport Public Library in Gurnee, Illinois; Kenosha (Wis.) Public Library; Aurora (Ill.) Public Library; Fossil Ridge Public Library District in Braidwood, Illinois; Fountaindale (Ill.) Public Library; Cook Memorial Public Library in Libertyville, Illinois; Skokie (Ill.) Public Library; Arlington Heights (Ill.) Memorial Library; and Homer Township (Ill.) Public Library. The brand-new Warren-Newport bookmobile received a LLAMA Best of Show Award for its wrap design, created by WNPL Senior Graphic Artist Mary Hasting in consultation with Head of Outreach Services Carol Brandon. The old WNPL bookmobile was acquired by author and musician Tom Corwin, who plans to give the mobile library a workout in 2010, driving it in a "Behind the Wheel of the Bookmobile" tour with his journalist friend Peter Laufer along the Lincoln Highway (U.S. 30) through small towns with an impressive number of famous authors taking their turns at the wheel. "We will start the tour in the spring in San Francisco and take it to New York," Corwin said. "Along the way we will be collecting interviews with library users and talking to authors about how books and bookmobiles have changed their lives." The highlights of the journey will be distributed in an online literacy outreach campaign and will culminate in a documentary film and possibly a book.