Libraries used to be an integral part of any person’s life, and the city library would often be a huge landmark. These days it is difficult to even remember if your city has a library, and especially if it a town or a small city. Another thing that makes it difficult for a town to have a library is that it takes lots of finance to sustain it. The Zaan region – a part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area – consists of a series of smaller villages which faces this exact problem, along with another problem of less parking space. The solution – a mobile library, but just not a drab mobile library.
BiebBus is a mobile library that has been specifically built to squeeze in narrow streets and to attract children and consequently inculcate the value of reading in them.
BiebBus is actually a shipping container that can pop-up and create two levels in the library. The lower level houses all the books and even though it looks like a tight fit, 20 people can stand around the 100 meter book shelf that is home to over 7000 books. The upper level is where children can sit, and read the books. To make it fun, the floor is made of glass – not just simple glass, but a a sort of magnifying glass which makes the kid look bigger. There are huge windows on the upper level so that there is enough natural light and the inquisitive ones can look outside. Cool lights and bean-bags complete the “reading-space”. 35-40 children can sit comfortably and lost themselves in the written word.
BiebBus moves from one primary school to another collaborating with them their schedules. The school provide electricity, facilities and even personnel to run the library. And in today’s world, any library is incomplete with access to internet, and thus BiebBus provides four computers with internet access.
This interesting design for a library has been very well accepted by the kids, and more mobile-libraries in similar ilk would be rolling out soon.
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