BRLMobile2GO provides library books to Benton, Pettis and Cooper Counties to residents who are not able to visit a library. A cargo van of books selected by the bookmobile driver and librarian, Anita Derendinger, are delivered to schools, community centers, senior centers, daycare centers and remote areas four days a week.
“Schools have libraries, of course,” said Derendinger. “But teachers at the schools have a library card with Boonslick Regional Library (BRL) that allows them to order sets of books for their individual classrooms that go with the subject matter students are currently studying. For instance, if a class is learning about Gorillas in science class, I can pull 16 books on that subject and the teacher can check them out for one month.”
Derendinger said that schools have changed how the bookmobile works. They used to send their students out of the classroom to the bookmobile where they could check out a book. Now Derendinger uses rolling crates in the van filled with books that each teacher requests, and she delivers them to the respective teachers. It isn’t disruptive to the school schedule this way. She noted that many schools are on four-day weeks, and she doesn’t visit a community on the day its school is not in session.
“In addition to letting teachers check out books from BRL, we have old books in good shape that have been dropped from circulation,” said Derendinger. “We give these out free to nursing homes, senior centers, and at other arranged stops such as Harbor Village and Warsaw’s Walmart. People can keep the books or return them so I can give them to someone else. This allows us to recycle old books and keep them from landfills. We also maintain small public libraries in city centers and senior centers, and trying to place them in every community. We supply books on shelves at a site and change them out every month.”
Derendinger said that she covers about 1200 miles a month giving away books and delivering books to be checked out. Her busiest community is in Warsaw, and Fristoe is another popular stop. During the winter months, she sees a lot of seniors and retirees. In the summer she meets with many stay-at-home moms who are home schooling, and with kids.
“I usually catch people who are walking at Drake Harbor and want free books,” said Derendinger. “I get to know some of these people and try to collect books that they like so I can provide them on return visits. When I go to Walmart, I catch people by surprise, and they choose from miscellaneous books.”
Derendinger runs her routes Monday, Wednesday and Friday and is the courier driver that delivers books between library branches on Tuesdays. Thursday is an office day when she pulls out books that have been ordered by teachers. A schedule of stops is available on the BRL website at www.boonslickregionallibrary.com/outreach/.
Derendinger started working for BRL in 2012 as a clerk in Cole Camp, then transferred to BRL in Sedalia. When the former bookmobile driver decided to retire in 2020, the library director asked Derendinger if she would like to take the job. She told Derendinger that she was the kind of person who liked to get out and meet people and would be perfect for the job. Derendinger waited until COVID cases decreased and took on the responsibility of bookmobile librarian in 2023.
Derendinger grew up in Cole Camp, but she and her husband also lived in Wichita, Kansas. She previously worked at other jobs including a stint as a customer service representative at a zoo Then she earned an art degree and worked as a graphic designer before becoming part of the BRL staff. She loves this “dream job” and plans to work at it until retirement.
She has a son who is nearly 20 years old, works in data entry and publishes many of his writings. She loves animals and has a horse, dogs and cats.
