Rural Alabama county cuts library budget, so library eliminates rural bookmobile stops

Some residents in one rural Alabama county are losing their bookmobile. The Calhoun County Commission approved a 5 percent budget cut to the Anniston library, leading library officials to eliminate 11 stops that a re-purposed, bookshelf-lined van makes to visit mostly senior citizens and children who are unable to get to the library, Zach Tyler reports for The Anniston Star. (Star photo by Bill Wilson: The bookmobile)

The van, which only runs three days per week, had 151 books checked out in October, Tyler writes. According to part-time librarian Linda Levens, the bookmobile burns half a gallon of diesel per hour idling and gets 7 miles to the gallon driving.

"Over the next year, the library will receive $107,065 in monthly payments from the Calhoun County Commission, according to assistant county administrator Melissia Wood," Tyler writes. "The library received $112,700 in fiscal 2015, Wood said, equating to a decrease of $5,635 in funding this year—about $469 less each month." Library, director Teresa Kiser told Tyler, “When the county cuts us, it only seems appropriate that we cut county individuals." (Read more)