A resident at Cedar Park Apartments in Bowling Green was so excited to see the Wood County District Public Library’s bookmobile, she checked out more than 30 items.

Cedar Park was added as a stop as the library’s new bookmobile hit the road earlier this month and Tuesday was the first time the bookmobile visited.

“She was so excited, she came on a checked out 32 books, and she wanted a sampling from each section,” said Lauren Canaday Johnson. “She said it was like Christmas for her.”

Canaday Johnson is in her third year as bookmobile driver.

“People absolutely love it,” she said. “I had a kid come on the other day and say ‘wow, this is nice.’ He loved the air conditioning.”

The new bookmobile also has pubic wi-fi and is wider inside and more efficient with how it’s set up. There is also a wheelchair lift.

“It’s a smaller vehicle but it’s actually roomier inside,” Canaday Johnson said, and it allows a line of people to view selections on each side without bumping into each other.

She estimated the bookmobile can carry at least 1,000 books, from picture books for infants to graphic novels, adult fiction and large print books for seniors plus DVDs and magazines.

“Children’s non-fiction is a huge hit,” she said. “They want to find out facts about koalas or they saw the new elephant at the zoo.”

She will hand out free coloring books and art supplies to children.

“We are a fully functional mobile library,” Canaday Johnson said.

Patrons also can place a hold on an item and pick it up the next time the bookmobile visits.

Seven additional new stops were added for a total of 19 as demand has increased for library services.

The bookmobile has started making public stops in Brentwood Park in Northwood also as has been added as have Troy Villa Mobile Home Park, Moline and Parkview Drive in Bowling Green.

Bradner has been included just for the summer.

Scheduled stops also include Chantilly Rue in Northwood, Eastpointe in Lake Township, Eden East in Northwood, Northwood Estates Mobile Home Park and Woodlake Mobile Home Park in Millbury.

Stops will also be made in Custar, Haskins, Hoytville, Millbury, Portage, Risingsun, Haskins, Tontogany and Rudolph.

Canaday Johnson is looking forward to adding stops at area assisted living facilities and nursing homes. The bookmobile has started making stops at The Willows of Bowling Green and Heritage Corner.

“I would love to see a good turnout there,” she said.

She said she is happy to see how excited the kids are when the bookmobile pulls up and how willing they are to learn.

“It’s a really rewarding job,” she said about fostering those relationships over time and finding out what they want.

Canaday Johnson said she does see a lot of regulars. She said she’ll sometimes have 35 people during the hour she is at a stop.

“It is very, very busy, but I love it,” she said.

Patrols need a library card to check out items, but Canaday Johnson can do that onsite.

The bookmobile has a wide angled back-up camera with blind spot alerts.

Canaday Johnson is a 2008 Northwood High School graduate who eventually worked for seven years at the public library in Bluffton after earning an English and writing degree at Bluffton College.

She said she realized the public outreach is where her heart is, and this job allowed her to move closer to family.

The library has provided bookmobile services to Wood County since 1953.

The one replaced was nearly 15 years old and used natural gas.

“Being able to fill up at any gas station while I’m out is a huge perk,” said Canaday Johnson.

She previously had to return to the library to refill the natural gas and had to use an equation to determine if she had enough gas to get to her destinations.

“I had my equation on hand at all times,” she said.

“The bookmobile we had was literally on its last tire,” said library trustees President Ken Frisch. “Too many times it was already off the road, which meant we were not out in the community.”

The bookmobile cost $210,000 and was purchased from TESCO Specialty Vehicles in Oregon.

Wood County has a lot of rural areas so it’s important we be able to offer books where people can walk, Frisch said.

“We can offer a community library by pulling (the bookmobile) into the local parking lot,” he said.

The bookmobile schedule can be found at https://wcdpl.org/bookmobile.