Best Job in the World

• Main Author: Berner, Catherine Claveau
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PNLA Quarterly 2016
• Subjects: book mobile; careers; outreach; community; Arctic; Fairbanks
• Online Access: https://arc.lib.montana.edu/ojs/index.php/pnla/article/view/615

Bookmobile and Homebound services are combined into one department at our library in Fairbanks. My co-worker Karen and I do it all using that Bookmobile. Our office is lined with shelves that are labelled with the names of each Homebound patron or each Saturday run and they are stacked with a variety of materials we’ve chosen and checked out for each.The office is adjacent to the garage for easy access to the vehicle. My daughter has described us as superhero librarians along the lines of Batman. She imagines that we hear of a bookneed out in the community, look at each other dramatically and say, “To the Bookmobile!” before jumping into our tricked-out arctic wheels to fill the pressing need vanquishing boredom and listlessness everywhere.We work Tuesday through Saturday. On some weekdays, we load carts onto the vehicle with bags of books and other treasure to make individual door-to-door deliveries to Homebound people. On other days we set up mini-libraries in two State Housing Apartment buildings or visit our Pioneer Home, which is a State-run nursing home. We make door-todoor delivery there and also bring a bagful to the Activities Staff so they have something fresh to share with residents who can’t use and acquire their own materials because of Alzheimer’s or Dementia.