FIELDING – Brad Rhodes has been driving Box Elder County’s Bookmobile for nearly 25 years. His route takes him to as far west as Grouse Creek and even Yost. On some days he goes as far north as Plymouth and Portage a couple of miles from the Idaho border.
Brad Rhodes the driver of the Box Elder County Bookmobile works on his computer on Monday Feb. 24, 2024.
He was at one of his stops in Fielding Monday and took time to talk about his job as Bookmobile operator.
“We have two Bookmobiles that cover Box Elder County,” he said. “The other one covers the south end of the county.”
Rhodes operates a semi-truck that pulls the bookmobile trailer behind it. He and fellow Bookmobile driver Josh Shandrew travel to communities across the 5,745.6 square miles of the fourth largest county in the Beehive State. Shandrew covers the south end of the county.
“It’s a really good job. Every two weeks between the two of us we make 95 community stops,” he said. “I meet a lot of good people.”
Brad Rhodes the driver of the Box Elder County Bookmobile has visited communities all over the county for 25 years.
The Box Elder Bookmobile is paid for by the county, Rhodes said.
“I had three ladies in their seventies in here a few minutes ago,” he said. “They hugged each other and reminisced about their families. Where else can you see things like that. They all grabbed an arm load of books and left.”
He talked about the little kids that come in with their parents and are excited about a book. Most kids want to play video games. It’s nice to see kids get excited about a book.
“We have about 68 people and checkout 215 books a day,” Rhodes said. “We have some 6,000 titles which includes DVD’s, CD’s and digital to other media.”
Rhodes got a degree from Utah State University in Secondary Education and taught in a high school in Northern Idaho. After a year he saw the Box Elder County Bookmobile job, applied and never looked back.
Books ready to be put back on the shelf of the Box Elder County Bookmobile on Monday FEb. 24, 2024.
“I grew up in Garland and I wanted to come back and be close to family,” he said. “I have a small farm, and I like being here.”
He said the county has changed. There are more people, and it is growing, but the people moving in for the most part are good people, and he enjoys getting to know them.
When the Box Elder County Bookmobile started in 1961, they were under the direction of the Utah State Library (USL.) In 2008 they split off from the USL and decided to run the two Bookmobiles themselves to service the large area they cover.
The Box Elder County Bookmobile has some 6,000 titles of books DVD’s, CD’s and other digital materials.
The county is facing unprecedented population growth, as most of the State is, but the book distribution program is still functioning and keeping up with the demand.
Bookmobiles continue to be an integral, vital part of libraries for rural and suburban areas around the country. Direct delivery services like the Bookmobile have been around for over 100 years both in the United States and many foreign countries.