Wayne Powell - Bookmobile Manager
We recently got a hold of Wayne Powell - the Bookmobile Manager at Miami Dade Public Libraries. Our chief editors for this edition of Cool Careers were Angel and Sechina - both 12 years old. They just couldn't stop asking questions!

How did you get your job?
I started working as a "page" in a library. A "page" is someone who shelves books. That was how I paid my way through college! Then I got my college degree - I was an English major. And I was wondering what I was going to do, so I decided to get my Master's degree in library science, because I loved libraries so much. I managed three different branches, and while I was branch manager at Key Biscayne library, I was asked by my supervisor if I would be interested in doing Bookmobiles. "Yes, I said, that sounds really cool," because we didn't have buses at the time and it would mean creating something brand new! So I started this project 2 years ago. We arranged to have the buses built, staff was hired, bus drivers were hired, we got the books, and that's how it all started!

What do you do in your job?
I work with 7 people. We set up the books, put them inside the vehicles, and later next month we will be going out in the neighborhoods. We have 32 places we will be stopping in Dade County, so wherever you live, we'll probably have a bookmobile stop there. It is a library on wheels!

Were there bookmobiles here before?
The library had bookmobiles for about 25 years, but then came Hurricane Andrew and stopped everything. A lot of our libraries were badly damaged, and we had to decide what we were going to rebuild. Bookmobiles were set aside, because they were getting old and we needed a lot of money to replace them. Then 10 years went by and the people of Miami-Dade County said: "We want our bookmobiles again! We remember bookmobiles from when we were kids, and we want them back." Because the library responds to what the community wants, we decided to have bookmobiles again.

What are the branches of the library?
We have 34 branches. There is a Main library downtown - that is our headquarters. Then there are several regional libraries, and then we have sub-regional libraries. We divide them according to size. You can look all of them up on the Internet.

Do you have the bookmobile schedule on the Internet?
We will, when we start going out. Before, we had a program called Library Express - and we had that schedule available to the public on the library website.

Do you enjoy your job?
Yes, a lot!

Do you have books for all kinds of people?
Yes, we have books for children, and books for toddlers - they are called EZ (easy) books, board books for really little kids (so they can't tear them apart). We have tapes for kids, we have Spanish books, we have books for grown-ups, we have books for older people with large print, so they wouldn't have to wear their glasses when reading, we have books on tape, so you can listen, videotapes, and much more.

Also, both of our buses are equipped with wheelchair access. We have a hydraulic ramp that goes out on the street, the wheelchair is rolled onto it, locked in and then lifted into the bus. When people with wheelchairs come inside the bus (through the secret doors you see in the photo below), they can move around like everybody else. We sincerely believe that there shouldn't be anyone who cannot come into the bookmobile!

Are you planning to go to schools with the bookmobile?
Actually, we are not because the school system has its own libraries. So, we thought we would focus on those places that don't have libraries at all, like the private schools. We would be going to a couple of private schools, and day cares.

What are some things you need to know in order to get a job in the bookmobile?
A bookmobile is just like a library, but it's on wheels! So, we have a variety of professionals - people with degrees in library science, "pages," bus drivers - who have come on board to work with us. 

If you are interested in libraries, a good way to start is to become a "page" when you start going to college. And surely enough, if you are a bookmobile enthusiast - you will eventually become professionally involved with bookmobiles too!

Are there any bookmobiles in other places in America?
Yes, I actually recently went to a conference in Columbus, Ohio, for people who do bookmobiles all over the country. Some cities have big buses like ours, some have small ones, which look more like vans. And people from all over the world have bookmobiles too! There is a mailing list on the Internet about bookmobiles, so you get to see information on how people in other countries do things, and you get some great ideas. There was somebody who was saying that in Zimbabwe (in Africa) they have donkeys for libraries…! Instead of buses they have donkeys that they load up with books, and travel from village to village. In some places in the Middle East they use camels for the same thing. In Amsterdam in the Netherlands, they have boats (since they have many canals)… so they have floating libraries!

If you check out a library book at a bookmobile how can you return it?
The checkout period is the same for the bookmobile as it is for the library - 28 days. The bookmobile will be at the same place once a week, so every Wednesday (for example) we'll be back where you checked out the book. That way you'll have three opportunities to return it! Or, you can return it at any Dade County library, and even renew it online!

Where can you find a bookmobile in your neighborhood?
The bookmobile will not come to your house of course, but it may come really close to where you live. One of the first things we did to determine where to go with our bookmobiles was to make a map of the whole county, and we drew a two mile radius from each library branch. It was extremely hard to find anywhere in Dade County where there was a library more than 2 miles away! But you will be able to see all our stops on our Internet site.

Thank you, Wayne! And we'll be expecting the Bookmobiles soon!

The Bookmobile Crew


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This page was last edited on:   March 09, 2005