BLOOMINGTON The last couple weeks have been like Christmas morning for Danny Rice.

Rice, circulation and outreach services supervisor for Bloomington Public Library, beams like a kid with a new toy as he climbs into the front seat of the new Bookmobile that will hit the streets April 13.

BPL's 1999 Bookmobile will be put out to pasture, replaced by a $250,000 vehicle funded 80 percent by the library and 20 percent by Golden Prairie Public Library District, a collection of townships that pay to use BPL services and donated additional money to help buy the vehicle.

The new Bookmobile comes with a bunch of improvements, including on-board wireless Internet, better heating and cooling systemsand a backup camera. But Rice, a driver for two years, is most excited about what it shouldn't have: electrical issues that led to canceled stops and extra repair costs.

"It still serves us well when it works correctly, but it's time to move on," he said of the previous Bookmobile that recently crossed 100,000 miles."This will be less expensive because of fewer maintenance issues."

Rice hopes the new vehicle and increasing public awareness will make Bookmobile service more popular than ever. It currently averages about 25 patrons per stop the vehicle visits each stop every three weeks for between 45 and 90 minutes, most for about an hour.

The basics of the operation will stay the same with the new vehicle: six BPL employees will take turns driving the Bookmobile around those 40 locations across Bloomington and in Arrowsmith and Ellsworth, serving as a librarian while it's stopped. A full schedule is available on the library website.

The new vehicle also has about the same capacity as its predecessor. It will be stocked with about 6,500 books, magazines, Blu-ray movies, DVD's and video games selected from BPL's most popular and available for checkout, and it will deliver other items patrons have put on hold online.

Rice said there's a perception the Bookmobile is intended for children the 1999 model has a rainbow of colors painted on the side, versus clean gray, green and blue stripes for the new one or for people who can't afford the time or money to go to the library. But he said any patron is welcome.

"It has less to do with finances and more with convenience," he said of why patrons visit the vehicle that has been on the street in some form since 1930. "If the Bookmobile is two blocks from your house, it's easier than driving 20 minutes downtown."

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On a roll: New Bookmobile to hit streets April 13

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