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Show Bookmobile offers valuable community service t "wcA I At - 'in John Pace, bookmobile librarian in Iron and Washington Counties, said he is continually "amazed at the amount of participation in the bookmobile program," since he began driving over four years ago. "It's just like a holiday when we arrive in some of the small towns," Pace said. "When we make some of our school stops, there is not even standing room in the bookmobile." Pace, who calls himself the "clerk, the driver, the librarian, the whole works," said the main difference between the book-nubile book-nubile and a regular public libury is one of formality. He said the bookmobile is "really infi mal." Ik said a person is mistaken if he thinks the bookmobile is just kid's stuff. "Most people have the impression im-pression that all we carry is children's books," he explained, "but there are a lot of adults that , use the bookmobile." Pace said the most popular type of book checked out of the mobile library is adult fiction. He said 72,000 books were checked out iast year. He said no one book is in total demand, because there are always perennial favorites such as "Gone With the Wind," as well as popular best sellers, ljke "Jaws." Pace sa id the bookmobile has a "little problem" with theft of books. With help from the State Library Commission, he said, it was figured about 100 books were lost for every 60,000 checked out, "which isn't too bad." The bookmobile is actually a branch of the State Library Commission, There are about 20 in the state, he said. The bookmobile book-mobile service is primarily for areas without other library service. For this reason the bookmobile doesn't make a stop in Parowan or Cedar City. It does however, make a stop at an isolated elementary school in St. George, who need help with a library, Pace added. Funding for the bookmobile program was originally federal, Pace said, but was dropped during the Nixon administration. The tab is now picked up by the state government and the counties, each paying 50 percent. Pace said it costs $4048 to run a , bookmobile for a year, not counting his own wages. Pace said he orders books from the state system, but "they do the buying." The state leaves it up to the individual drivers to do the ordering because they know what books "move" in each bookmobile. The average novel costs about $6 8, he added. Bookmobiles in the more populous areas check out as many as 1000-2000 per day, Pace PLENTY OF PARTICIPATION. John G. Pace, driver and librarian of the local bookmobile, checks one of the 4,000 books carried on his mobile library unit. The average life of a book is about 50 circulations, he said. said, but 800-900 is tops for this route. His bookmobile can carry between 4000 and 4500 books, Pace said, with a backup collection of about 20,000. Presently the backup collection is located in the basement of the Post Office, but Pace said he hopes the collection can be moved to a room in the Cedar City Public Library. The bookmobile also has an inter-library loan service to readers. Through this, technical books, or older books can be ordered from Salt Lake. The library commission also has a service for the blind and handicapped, han-dicapped, such as "talking books," which is free. The bookmobile makes stops in various communities on weekdays, week-days, every other week. Copies of the schedule can be obtained from , the bookmobile headquarters, presently 10 North Main, Cedar, or by phoning 586-6715. |