The Pikes Peak Library District has had a long presence in the Falcon area. The PPLD bookmobile has been serving Falcon for at least 15 years, said Jan Meadows, bookmobile supervisor.The bookmobile is designed to serve patrons who do not have local access to a library branch.”During the last five years it has really grown,” Meadows said. “In 2002, the county bookmobile service was increased to six days. Falcon actually gets more stops than any other town in the area – three times a week.” The bookmobile stops include Falcon, Calhan, Peyton, Rush, Ellicott, Edison, Hanover and Black Forest.The PPLD associate director for the library’s branch and outreach services, Beth Barrett, said, “The demand has increased as the population has exploded.” She said the busiest stops are two of the fastest growing areas: Black Forest and Falcon.Because of population growth, the PPLD has considered providing a permanent library structure in Falcon. Barrett said in 2003 the PPLD worked closely with Falcon School District 49 to utilize a shared-use facility within a high school. The bond issue failed, so the idea was scrapped.Barrett said a property owner, who offered to assist with rent, helped make the Briargate branch possible. And the city of Fountain opened a branch through the cooperation of PPLD, the Fountain school district and grant money.”They received a variety of funding sources,” Barrett said. “That’s what we’re looking for, to broker some kind of cooperative venture as business partners.”The PPLD considers several factors before deciding on increased services.”We do a lot of checking with census information, and we use a lot of demographics, such as the number of patrons in the area that use the bookmobile, how far the population is from service and the circulation, check outs, returns and holds in an area,” Barrett said.”We are still mindful of the fact that Falcon needs more service. It’s possible in 2006 the PPLD will buy an additional bookmobile, which could be a permanent fixture on a plot of land. We’re trying to look at innovative ways to expand services.””The bookmobile offers the same services as a full-service library,” Meadows said. “The bookmobile carries everything a branch does, but in smaller quantities – DVDs, CD-ROMS, videos, magazines, fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature.”The bookmobile also delivers materials requested by a patron during its next stop. Meadows said that items can be renewed online, returns can be brought to the bookmobile and library cards can be issued at the bookmobile.”One of the benefits of using the bookmobile is that the material is checked out for twice as long,” Meadows said. “Instead of a one week due date for videos, it’s two weeks at the bookmobile. Books can be checked out for six weeks, instead of the three weeks at the library.”Two book drops are located in front of the Falcon Retail Center on McLaughlin Road.
