As the sun shone down on Santa Barbara Shores Park, children watched with their parents as a librarian turned the pages of a storybook. Animals were acted out, the Hokey Pokey was danced, and parents laughed alongside their kids.
Rather than hold the event within walls of books, the Goleta Valley Library took story time on the road and is exploring new ideas for keeping the love of reading alive and well.
The Goleta Valley Library at 500 North Fairview Ave. will be closed for a two-year period for renovations. In June, a temporary location nicknamed the “GVL Express” will be opening at 6500 Hollister Ave.
In the gap between one branch closing and the temporary space opening, librarians were left wondering how to keep the community engaged and active with the library despite the lack of a physical space.
“While we’re in between libraries, we wanted to keep programming going because we have a really vibrant community of families and children and young patrons,” explained City Librarian Elizabeth Saucedo. “And we wanted to keep those service levels high even though we didn’t have a physical library to keep going to during the move.”
Goleta Valley Library has been keeping the library up and running in a few different ways. One is a baby and toddler story time, which is held every Friday at various spaces in the Goleta area. Families can visit the library right in their own backyards and be in a familiar outdoor space with their children.
The library is also ensuring people can continue to borrow books by taking operations on the move.
The bookvan has been making stops around the Isla Vista and Goleta communities. Community members can reserve books through an online catalog and then pick them up at any bookvan stop.
Supervising Librarian Kim Crail spoke on the popularity the bookvan has been experiencing since the closure.
“We have two at Goleta Union School District, one Wednesday evening and one Saturday morning, and those are just slammed. It’s like a busy restaurant,” Crail said.
The bookvan also makes regular stops at UC Santa Barbara to give college students the chance to check out books right in downtown Isla Vista. The Goleta Valley Library also recently partnered with UCSB Reads to host a Community Poetry Reading for students and community members to read their favorite poems aloud.
For Saucedo, it acted as a positive sign of engagement from the college demographic with reading in general.
“We’re trying to make sure we’re reaching teens, reaching seniors, reaching families,” Saucedo said. “We try to make sure that we really are providing something for everybody, because the library is for everybody.”
Crail expressed the overall gratitude she has felt after seeing the success of both the bookvan and the events the library has been hosting.
“The staff have been working so hard, so we’re really thankful to the bookvan staff and the other Goleta Valley Library staff that have been pitching in,” Crail said.
