Iowa Offers Kids Free Rides to the Library

Lynn Blumenstein -- School Library Journal, 2/14/2007

Iowa City Public Library (ICPL) is working with the city's transit department to offer kids free rides to the library this summer. The experimental program is an outgrowth of the library's strategic plan—specifically, an initiative to take services out to the public.

When deciding how to implement this goal, ICPL director Susan Craig says staffers determined that an outreach program would cost too much money, in resources and staff time. So ICPL decided to bring people to the resources instead, specifically targeting kids ages 10–14, a group that has difficulty visiting the library due to lack of transportation.

ICPL and the transit department are in the planning stages of designing special routes that reach lower-income youths, in neighborhood centers, mobile home parks, and certain schools. The routes will run three days a week from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ICPL must raise $12,000 to pay for bus drivers' salaries. Since the transit system gets federal money, it can't restrict who uses its services. So while the special summer routes are free to all who show a library card, they're actually designed to reach kids.

ICPL's summer program lasts eight weeks, beginning in June, and the special bus routes will operate during the same period. While the library always hires extra help during the summer, this year it might hire more, says Craig.