CONCORD ó An icon from an era when most households had only one car and computers took up entire rooms will be retiring soon.
The Cabarrus County Public Library Bookmobile will make its final stops in the community Friday, Oct. 9.
After 34 years of service, the bookmobile’s condition is too poor to continue making rounds, according to a Cabarrus County press release. The bookmobile is a 1975 Ford F-800 bus retrofitted with specially designed shelves and two circulation desks to create a library on wheels.
The first bookmobile in Cabarrus County was provided in 1941 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s effort to rebuild the economy following the Great Depression.
Traditionally, the library’s bookmobile served residents in rural areas who were unable to travel to the county’s only library in downtown Concord. At one time, three bookmobiles simultaneously served the residents of Cabarrus County by bringing library resources out to the rural communities.
As lifestyles have changed and as additional libraries have been built in Harrisburg, Kannapolis and Mount Pleasant, fewer county residents visit the library’s bookmobile when it rolls into their community.
Last fiscal year, there were 8,477 visits to the bookmobile, compared to 549,479 visits to the other libraries in the Cabarrus County Public Library system.
While the bookmobile will retire, the library will continue to provide books to the homebound population. A van will be used to operate a courier service to nursing homes and the homebound, those who are unable to leave their homes on a regular basis due to their own health condition or disability and who have no transportation in the household.
For more information about homebound services, call the Cabarrus County Public Library at 704-920-2050. For a list of library locations and services, log on to www.cabarruscounty.us/library.