Bookmobile

A brightly-colored van decorated with bars (books) and a map. A person in sunglasses leans in front

The Watertown Free Public Library Bookmobile is a customized Sprinter Van built to carry a small collection of library materials to various locations around Watertown. It transports a mini-fleet of book carts, serving as a pop-up library and mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. If you don’t have a library card yet, you can get one at the Bookmobile!

Button with the text, aska question links to bookmobile inquiry form
Button with the text suggest a stop links to Bookmobile inquiry form.
Button with the text, Press Release, links to WFPL press release page.
Monochrome green image with a white checkbox in front.

What services does the Bookmobile offer? 

The bookmobile is a pop-up library on wheels. It transports materials and information that people can browse from book carts and tables arranged outside. 

What you can do: You can get a library card. You can check out, renew, and return materials. You can talk to a librarian about reading recommendations and programs offered at the Library. Soon, we hope to offer pop-up story times in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.  

Blue circle with a white calendar icon in the middle.

Bookmobile Calendar

Monochrome purple image with a map pin icon in front.

Where can the Bookmobile go? 

Schools, parks, events, apartment complexes, and more! The calendar on this webpage is updated regularly with all of our upcoming stops. Want to suggest a stop? Complete this form to send a suggestion to Outreach librarian Marissa Monteiro.

In the near future, we hope to offer unconventional programming in places you don’t normally expect to see a library. This might mean tailgating at a high school football game or doing library “product demos” in lobbies and commercial centers, bringing books on art instruction to an urban sketchers meetup at Mount Auburn Cemetery or hosting a book club in a residential area. 

Want to bring the bookmobile to your neighborhood? Please keep in mind:

👍 What's required:

  • Inside Watertown City limits 
  • Space for a 20’ van 
  • Space for multiple book carts 
  • Space for people to gather and browse 

⛔ Where we can't go:

  • Outside Watertown City limits
  • Narrow streets
  • Narrow sidewalks
  • Streets without sidewalks
  • Hills 
A person leans out the window of a colorful van and hands a book to a person on the street.

The WFPL Bookmobile was made possible by many generous individual donors and funding from the Library Building Committee. Thank you, donors and fundraisers, for helping us serve more people than ever before.

BOOKMOBILE DONORS

Alice Poltorick • Anita Dobbs • Anne H. Hammett • Anthony Donato • Barbara Darrow • Bob Collini • Building Committee • Carl Taplin • Carol Tierney • Catherine Coyne • Chris Richards • Cynthia Galligan • David Benson & Nancy Dutton • Deborah and Leonard Holt • Dennis Holland • Donald & Susan Kelley MacDonald • Eileen Hsu-Balzer • Elaine Mello • Elizabeth Fitzpayne • Elodia Thomas • Emily Izzo • Emily Melnick • Helen Dempsey • Ilana Mainelli • Jamie Poulin • Jane Holden • John Hawes & Emily Barclay • John Petrowsky • Jonathan Hecht & Lora Sabin • Katherine Kopp • Kristina Wright • Lanae Handy • Leanne & Evan Hammonds • Leslie Horst • Linda & Theodore Cocca • Lisa Chapnick • Liza Ketchum & John Straus • Lucy Lovrien • Lydia & Michael Seif • Michael Fredrickson and Jocelyn Tager • Mishy Lesser • Nicole Gardner • Pat Rathbone • Penelope Peoples • Raya Stern • Rebecca Grow • Robert P. Shay • Roberta Miller and Alan Medville • Sarah Bansen • Stephanie & Steven Venizelos • Susan LaDue • Tony Palomba • Vincent Piccirilli Jr & Anita Meiklejohn • Watertown Commission on Disability • Anonymous