Since its debut on July 30, 2015, the Carmel Clay Public Library’s (CCPL) mobile library has been delivering books and DVDs to venues all across Clay Township.

“Basically, it’s a truck filled with books,” Veeda Scammahorn, CCPL teen library council member and junior, said.

The mobile library was originally created with the intention of providing library service to patrons living in the western half of Clay Township when the U.S. 31 highway was under further construction a few years ago, according to Nancy Newport, assistant director and manager of the mobile library.

Now, the mobile library has three stops per day, Monday through Friday. Its day stops include Clay Terrace, John W. Hensel Government Center, four Carmel retirement centers, Clay and Carmel Middle Schools and three churches: St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, Pilgrim Lutheran Church and Carmel United Methodist Preschool.

Starting this month, Newport and mobile library supervisor Emily Dickos-Carter said they will work with the Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department to coordinate the servicing of four parks: Lawrence West Inlow Park, West Park, Founders Park and Carey Grove Park.

According to Dickos-Carter, the collection of books and DVDs available for check-out at the mobile library is exclusive to the mobile library and cannot be put on hold.

“So, you can’t go into our catalog and say, ‘Hey, I really want that book. I’m going to put a hold on it and keep it forever,’” Dickos-Carter said.

Not only is the mobile library able to extend beyond the main CCPL building by providing increased access to the most popular books and DVDs, it is also full service. This means any library visitors can do tasks such as renewing library cards and returning books through the mobile library, instead of the main building.

“(The mobile library) is very brand-new,” Scammahorn said. “You can recommend to the library about where else to go and how it can be more beneficial, so the library is open for a ton of suggestions for that.”

“The whole idea is that this (mobile) library wants to serve the community as best we can, make it as convenient as we can, for as many of the population of the community as we can,” CCPL communications manager Beth Jenneman said. “If we can reach people that we might not otherwise reach because we have a vehicle that goes out rather than people coming here, I’d say that’s the main thing about the mobile library. It’s just one more convenient option for people and one more way we can serve the community.”