GLENNS FERRY, Idaho — People from Glenns Ferry and surrounding communities stepped onto the beyond books bus for the first time, and were met with accessible educational tools and resources.
“The bus is absolutely incredible. I am so excited that our community has access to this now… it has a great area for kids with books, a little reading nook and then it also has technology and Internet access for adults,” said Jessie Jarvis, community member and parent.
This is the first of eight outreach vehicles, and is funded by Federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, awarded through the Idaho Commission for Libraries.
“Not everybody can get into a library building, so taking those services where people live and they’re at… nursing homes, schools it’s just a way to say, ‘hey we are part of the community, we want to help however we can,’” said Stephanie Bailey-White, the State Library Director.
The Glenns Ferry Public Library wanted to extend library services to communities like Hammett and King Hill by bringing the library to them.
“Because we are a rural community we need to get out to the further away areas, and I wanted something that was weather friendly that we could use year round that people can go in and use,” said Jennifer Trail, Glenns Ferry Library Director.
The bus also provides in-person homework help, a children’s area, early literacy tools and books.
“Services like this help bridge that digital divide and make Wi-Fi available so people can learn, they can apply for jobs, they can connect to health professionals,” said Bailey-White.
The Spanish children’s books are donated by a Glenns Ferry High School student as part of his senior project, which is geared towards making a difference.
“I think it’ll help quite a bit; we have a big Hispanic population here and it will give a wider variety of books to students and younger kids that don’t really know much English, and it’ll make them feel a lot more comfortable,” said Allan Deleon, Glenns Ferry High School senior.
The bus will be driving around and serving communities every Friday. You can keep up with it here.
