Marion’s new mobile library buzz

Marion Council is ecstatic over its new Mobile Buzz, a massive, psychedelic, 16 metre semi trailer that has been custom built as a mobile library. Launched in February, the big buzz on wheels is the State’s largest Mobile Library and the first of its type in South Australia to be incorporated into the body of a semi trailer.

It features a ‘Books Alive’ theme conveyed through dynamic, brilliantly coloured murals. Using special digitisation techniques, the murals appear to leap from the sides of the truck. They include favourite story book characters such as Ivanhoe, Space Kids, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Old Man and the Sea, as well as curio images like vegetables growing out of cooking books and huge insects, the fantasy of every entomologist.

This vibrant Mobile Library is yet another ground breaking initiative for Marion Council which introduced South Australia’s first Mobile Library in 1963. Internal features include piped music, timber shelving, three air conditioners, an automatic door, lots of natural lighting and a unique push button hydraulic capsule which acts as an extended annex service desk.

Its enormous capacity allows the library to carry a much wider selection of novels, large print books, magazines, jigsaw puzzles, audio cassettes and Hear-A-Books, an assortment of videos and CDs. It also acts as a mobile information centre for Marion Council.

“Last year when there was talk of closing down the mobile service, we received an overwhelming response from users for it to be retained and this new bus is the result,” said Sandie Holmes, Marion Library Coordinator.

“People love the mobile service because it does not just deliver books, it delivers real old fashioned customer service and now this will be dispatched from a state of the art vehicle that is fun, imaginative and very alive.”

For further information contact Wendy Fowler, telephone (08) 8375 6600.