Many people gathered Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 30, to check out the Bettendorf Public Library’s new outreach vehicle, called BettConnect.
Mayor Bob Gallagher joined other city and library leaders to cut a city ribbon at the library entrance for the new $238,000 vehicle, which contains 1,500 mostly newer books.
“The arrival of the BettConnect is an exciting opportunity to take the Bettendorf Public Library beyond our walls and bring the library to even more members of our community, regardless of transportation or mobility challenges,” said Library Director Jillian Aschliman.
“We look forward to connecting more residents with library resources and programs and creating new opportunities for learning and discovery.”
BettConnect will travel throughout the area, offering free Wi-Fi and pop-up events and services, including library card registration and materials checkout. Community organizations can even request a visit from BettConnect at its site, www.bettendorflibrary.com/outreach-vehicle.
This initiative came to life through the generosity of several donors (in a campaign from July 2024 through that December), including, but not limited to:
• Scott County Regional Authority
• Regional Development Authority
• Arconic Foundation
• Bechtel Trusts
• Contributions from library users
The Bettendorf Public Library Foundation raised the funds for this outreach vehicle, which expands on the library’s mission to provide access to information and ideas for all.
“We are so excited to have this out on the road,” Aschliman said Wednesday, noting they acquired it Aug. 31. “We took it out as kind of a test drive for Storytime in the Park a few weeks ago (in Hollowview Park). We had a couple people stop by, and then as more people saw the vehicle, kind of drew more and more people in, and we had about 70 people out for its first foray without even really advertising for it,” she said.
“So we're really excited and to see that the community is responding to it.”
There is a wide variety of about 1,500 books in the vehicle, mainly newer and more popular titles, across diverse genres, including fiction, nonfiction, mystery, romance, travel, young adult and children’s books.
“Right now we're just kind of doing pop-up visits and kind of getting a feel of how the community would like to see us out and about,” she said. “Some of it will kind of depend on staff availability and whatnot, but we're really going to try and hit as many people that would like us to be at their schools, businesses, wherever, just so we can be out for you.”
Similar outreach vehicles, or bookmobiles, are provided by the Davenport, Scott County, Rock Island, and Moline public libraries, Aschliman said.
“It's a pretty popular service for libraries because again, we want to get out in the community and we really want to share that joy for reading and help kind of promote the services that we offer to the community,” she said. Schools and parks will be popular destinations, and the Bettendorf library plans to visit senior living facilities.
They already visit homebound residents with a smaller vehicle.
To stock BettConnect, Aschliman said: “We tried to go with really popular kind of books that were getting reserved quite a bit at the time. So we thought the vehicle was actually going to be here in June, so they're a little out of date at this point, but they're still pretty— still some of the really more popular reads, that sort of thing. Things that people are putting on hold.”
On the large screen in the vehicle, there’s a QR code where people can give their recommendations for materials that they'd like to see, she said. “So we're always looking for feedback from the community because we really want to make sure that this is a vehicle that the community is using and wants to see, and have whatever they want on there.”
Initially, the library explored an option of providing a large 24/7 vending machine for books, that would have to be enclosed in a shelter. “It was way more expensive than the vehicle,” Aschliman said.
Over two years ago, the library discussed ways to serve people who were not coming back to the library much after the COVID pandemic, she noted.
“Right after the pandemic, it was really hard to get people back into the building. And so we were trying to like, how do we get— bring more awareness to the library?” Aschliman said.
“And then when you think about too, like even the recent conversations about like the literacy crisis and whatnot, the library is primed to help out with that," she said. "So why wouldn't we be trying to get out in the community and really promote the benefits of what we offer to people of all ages? And trying to instill that love for learning and reading.”
She added that library usage has come back to its pre-pandemic levels.
“As Bettendorf continues to grow, we all believe that it's important that we continue to touch everybody in our community with library services, and this is a great opportunity to use this outreach vehicle to do so,” Mayor Bob Gallagher said Wednesday. “Now we can go take the show on the road.”
“The core services provided by our outreach vehicle include materials checkout, free library card registration, free Wi-Fi access, and information about library events and resources right here in the building,” he said. “And please spread the word to all those that you know that we have this opportunity that's going to be coming throughout the community, to those neighborhoods to be served.”
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