New York City Rolls Out School Bookmobile for Troubled Kids
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Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 10/23/2007
A group of troubled New York City schoolchildren now have their own library—and it comes to them each week on wheels.
Equipped with 4,000 books, DVDs, computers, and a flat-screen TV, the 40-foot Wheels of Wonder bookmobile serves more than 500 K–12 public school kids who are living temporarily in residential psychiatric wards throughout the city.
The collection, which was selected by school librarians, includes everything from picture books to popular graphic novels and manga, as well as books that serve the special needs of these students, says Elizabeth Naylor-Gutiérrez, coordinator of library services for the city’s schools. “Most of these kids are emotionally impaired and need that special kind of support,” she adds, explaining that they’ve dealt with issues ranging from suicide and drugs to bipolar disorders.
The eye-catching yellow and blue bus, which is painted with images of children, recently started making runs, and teacher Mariann Giordano and paraprofessional Lorraine Kuehnle are on hand to help students select materials. The two women are currently training to get a special license so they can drive the bus themselves. Currently, bookmobile driver Charles Becker takes them to five psychiatric sites each week.
The idea for a bookmobile came up nearly two years ago, when Phyllis Weinfeld, the principal at P.S. 23 in Queens, decided that her special needs students needed libraries.
“We were trying to figure out a way to deliver library services to these kids,” says Barbara Stripling, the education department’s director of library services. “The kids weren’t moveable, so we had to bring the library to them.”
The cost for the bookmobile was about $400,000, and it’s a first for a public school in New York, she adds.
