Who visits the library bus?

Aalborg Bibliotekerne is not only the responsible public library for the city, but also for the little villages around. As you read in the last post, there are 12 branch libraries all over the Aalborg Kommune, to connect the wide surroundings of Aalborg to the library. However, there are still some villages with a longer way to the next branch library, so the main library sends three library busses for them. Every day and no matter what weather, they are on the road on different routes to supply the people with books, films, games and so on.

During our education in Switzerland, we never had the possibility to go with a library bus. Therefore, you can imagine how curious we were, when we heard about them at the Hovedbibliotek. During one of the tours through the library in the first two weeks, we had the chance to see them from the inside. A few weeks later, we got the “Okay” to join them for a day on their tour. On every tour, there is the bus driver plus the librarian. Therefore, it is only one seat left for a guest and we had to go separately. There are tours in the morning and in the afternoon. The afternoon busses, which we joined in, start their tour after the lunch break in the library and they return at eight in the evening.

One of the routes leaded from Aalborg all the way to the east coast and a small town called Egense. From Aalborg to Egense it was 45 min driving time. On the way back from Egense to Aalborg there were stops in Mou, Klarup (two stops) and Lillevorde. The stops in Egense (13.45 – 14.45) and Mou (15.00 – 16.00) and the first stop in Klarup (16.45 – 17.45) took an hour each. The second stop in Klarup was from 18.00 until 18.45 and in Lillevorde it was a stop of just 30 minutes from 19.00 until 19.30. At 20.00 the tour ended at the Hovedbibliotek and a looooong but very interesting and exciting day was over.

It was very interesting to see, how the guest type changed within the different towns. At the first stop (Egense), all the guests were children. Right beside the bus station is a house were they wait after school, until their parents are back from work to take them home. It was very nice to see how autonomously they entered the bus and browsed through the shelves. At the stops in Mou and Klarup were many families visiting the bus and in Lillevorde came mainly elderly people to borrow new crime stories. Compared to the Hovedbibliotek, it is a completely other world being on the library bus. The guests know the bus driver and the librarian. It is a very personal and cosy atmosphere and there is always the time for a little chat between guest and librarian or bus driver. As you can see, also in a library bus, there are all kind of guests and the librarians supply them with the same services as in the main library. 

In our gallery, you find some new pictures from the library bus inside and outside. Enjoy and have a nice fortnight.