The Ottawa Public Library plans to use almost all of its $1.8-million budget surplus from the past year to replace an aging Bookmobile, one of the city’s two travelling mini-libraries for underserved communities.
According to a staff report, the city’s next Bookmobile will cost $1.5 million to put into service by 2026 — double the cost of the last one. The price tag can be partly blamed on U.S. President Donald Trump tariff threats.
The city’s library board has decided recently to continue to invest in its Bookmobile program to ensure everyone in Ottawa has access to books.
The program sends buses full of books to the same 20 neighbourhoods every week to provide access to communities that are considered to be underserved based on socioeconomic needs.
One Bookmobile was purchased in 2019. The other vehicle is nine and reaching the end of its life. Mark Gelsonimo, manager of the Bookmobile program, said the lifespan of one of these vehicles is 10 to 12 years before becoming less reliable or even breaking down.
The cost of a Bookmobile has doubled since the last purchase in 2019. In a report presented at the March 11 meeting, the OPL said the price is the result of inflation, supply chain impacts from the pandemic and the expected impact of tariffs being imposed by the U.S. government.
“Current estimates, accounting for year-over-year inflation and continued supply chain and manufacturing impacts of the pandemic, amount to an expenditure of nearly double the previous acquisition,” the report stated. “Given the uncertain economic outlook, pending possible tariffs on trade, inflationary concerns on the cost of manufacturing and materials, and related operational pressures, staff recommend $1.5 million of the 2024 operating surplus be allocated towards the purchase of a new bookmobile, with procurement to begin in 2025.”
According to Gelsomino part of the challenge with replacing the Bookmobile is that each vehicle has to be custom built and there are few vendors able to do the work.
The vehicles need to be retrofitted to include shelving for the books, a workstation, bathrooms and microwaves for the employees. The vehicle also needs to meet accessibility requirements.
The need for a custom-made vehicle also means there will be an 18- to 24-month wait before a new bus will be ready for service.
The Bookmobile program started in 1953 to provide what is essentially a library on wheels to people who may face barriers in travelling to one the OPL’s branches — of which there are 33 today.
The goal of the program is to meet clients where they are, to not only provide them with access to books but other library resources such as mystery games for kids and museum passes. According to Gelsomino, the most important service the Bookmobile provides is the two employees working at each location who lend their knowledge and assistance to customers.
Given the uncertain economic outlook, pending possible tariffs on trade, inflationary concerns on the cost of manufacturing and materials, and related operational pressures, staff recommend $1.5 million of the 2024 operating surplus be allocated towards the purchase of a new bookmobile, with procurement to begin in 2025.
— Staff report, Ottawa Public Library
One of these employees is Tara Heft, children’s programming and public service assistant for the OPL. Heft was working the Bookmobile that was stopped on Caldwell Avenue in Ottawa’s Carlington neighbourhood on Tuesday. Since it was a less busy day than usual she was spending her time crouched down organizing their inventory from a pile of books she had placed on her workstation at the back of the bus when Capital Current stopped by. Heft works at about 10 Bookmobile stops per week and believes the program is important for people.
“I think it’s important because certain areas of town don’t have a library branch,” said Heft. “So we try to service communities where if people had to walk to a branch — if the branch is quite far away — then we try to locate the stops in neighborhoods where people aren’t near a branch but could walk to the bookmobile once a week to access our service.”
Gelsonimo believes that even though the OPL now has 33 branches and provides access online there is still a need for these Bookmobiles in 2025.
“We still recognize that many people in Ottawa experience barriers to accessing library services and the more places we can have a presence in and the more points of service we can offer clients, the better,” he said. “I think the provision of information is really at the heart of our service. The more information people have and the more accurate and better information that people have, the more it allows people to participate in a free and open society.”
The Bookmobile schedule can be found at the OPL’s website, and includes weekly stops in communities such as Bridlewood in west-end Kanata, Overbrook in central Ottawa and the village of Vars in the rural southeast part of the city.
