On the right road!
It's a chapter of success as mobile library chalks up 40 years
By Brian Flett
(From The Orcadian dated February 6, 2003)

Orkney’s first mobile library van which entered service on February 4, 1963. (Picture: Orkney Library Photographic Archive)

Orkney’s mobile library service celebrating its 40th anniversary at the start of February 2003.

The service made its first run on February 4, 1963, and has become an established part of community life in Orkney ever since.

The idea of taking a mobile library around the rural parishes of the Orkney Mainland followed the success of similar experiments elsewhere in Scotland.

The development was suggested by the then chief librarian, Mr Evan MacGillivray.

Existing library customers were sounded out to see if they would like to have a visit from the mobile rather than having to come into Kirkwall and so it was decided to make individual household calls, rather than stopping at a central point within the parishes, hoping that people would come along.

But regular stops were made at the Palace in Birsay, Burray, Dounby, Finstown, St Margaret’s Hope and St Mary’s and customers within a mile radius of those places were asked to visit the mobile when it came to the village.

The County Library already had a system for sending family boxes of books to people living in the North and South Isles, which were picked up from or distributed by the local merchants on the islands.

This service was started in 1954, initially to North Ronaldsay, but other islands were added over the next two to three years.

Planning out the schedule of visits for the new mobile service took some time, making use of Ordnance Survey maps.

Three young readers browse through the shelves of the original mobile library van which toured rural parishes of Orkney for many years. The boys who featured in the photograph are Mike Gray, Billy Johnston and Dave Gray. Young Dave’s reading obviously paid dividends as he is now a producer with BBC Radio Orkney. (Picture: Orkney Library Photographic Archive)

Areas were grouped together on certain days so that with a rota of two drivers, Mr Erland Anderson and Mr Denis Eunson, the library van took about seven or eight weeks to complete a full cycle, before they revisited places again.

The service expanded over the years with a second vehicle being bought to cover the Inner North Isles and South Isles as they got a ro-ro ferry service.

The OIC’s current chief librarian, Mr Bobby Leslie, attempted to compare the reading habits of customers who make use of the mobile library service.

“The mobiles always carry a cross-section of all reading material in our catalogue. We used to stock the ‘Isles’ mobile with virtually the same as the ‘Mainland’ van, but we found that folk in the isles liked different things, and so we had to completely revamp our Isles mobile stock.

“The Isles mobile also stops at the various schools and pupils make use of its services. With the depopulation of the country areas of Orkney we’ve been able to tighten the schedule down to a five-week cycle, because the Isles mobile also does South Ronaldsay, Burray and the Mainland villages.

“The other change we’ve noticed in recent years, as more people come up to Orkney from the South, is that more and more of the householders both work, so they wouldn’t be at home to have a visit from the mobile.”

The current drivers are Lenise Steven and Kenny Eunson on the Mainland mobile, and Betty Stanger and Athole Thomson serve on the Isles mobile.

Mr Leslie believed that the introduction of the mobile service had encouraged more people in rural areas and the outer isles to read more and to widen their choice of reading material.

“There are some people who still want nothing but Mills and Boon and like it. But I think the majority of folk have developed their reading habits because of the mobile library.”

He explained how he envisaged the mobile library service developing in future.

“The next stage is to have computerisation and the Internet available on board, whether it be a self-contained unit or through a physical cable link to the community facilities in some of the halls or schools around the county.

Later additions to the mobile library service - the “Mainland” mobile in the foreground with the vehicle which served the “Isles” parked behind.

“It is all part of the lifelong learning experience. We’re hoping to put our own catalogue on to our website, so that with computerisation on board the mobiles, customers would have better access to the main catalogue of the library.

“People could browse the list and order up a particular book which would come out with the mobile on its next visit. This system would also stand good for the Mainland mobile.

“At the moment, people can phone us up with specific requests and we’ll put out a book next time.

“It is still a very popular service and one which I wouldn’t like to see us discontinue.”