Phyllis Buechler and Janet Gregory are pictured after the Ward County Library Bookmobile won the North Dakota State Library Wheelie Award last year. Submitted photo

The Ward County Library Bookmobile has received the Wheelie Award from the State Library for the second year in a row.

The award is given to the library bookmobile – a traveling library still fairly common in western North Dakota and in some other states with large rural populations – which has the best overall performance in terms of circulation per capita, stops made, and miles traveled, according to a press release from the North Dakota State Library.

Janet Gregory and Phyllis Buechler said they make stops at 10 schools within Ward County and Mountrail County and make stops at other points within the two counties.

For some people, the bookmobile is the only access they have to books.

The bookmobile stops at Bell School and Surrey School on the first and third Tuesday of each month; at Des Lacs-Burlington and Burlington-Des Lacs Schools on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month; at Sawyer, downtown Makoti, downtown Ryder, and at Douglas on the first and third Wednesday of each month; at Nedrose High School and Nedrose Elementary on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month; at Our Saviors Church and South Prairie School on the first and third Thursday of each month; at Berthold School, downtown Berthold, Carpio, and Country Steps Daycare on the second and fourth Thursday of each month; at Kenmare Elementary, Kenmare High School, and Kenmare Daycare on the fourth Monday of each month; at Parshall School, Parshall Downtown, Rockview Center, Plaza School, and downtown Plaza on the first Monday of each month; at Hove’s Corner, Lostwood, Bethel Home, Palermo, and Blaisdell, on the second Monday of each month; and at White Earth, Ross, and Tagus on the third Monday of each month.

More information about the schedule is available at the Ward County Library in Minot or the Kenmare Branch Library in Kenmare.

The two women said the most recent bookmobile was purchased in 2011 and it hit the 100,000-mile mark only last year. Normally, a bookmobile is expected to last for about 10 years.

Gregory and Buechler said they get to know some of the repeat patrons who come back visit after visit and notice when they are not there.

In recent years, especially during the oil boom, there was an increase in library visits. Some kids would check out books and had transferred to another school in the area by the time the bookmobile visited again. Classroom teachers returned the child’s bookmobile books.

Patrons can check out books and movies, audio books and large print books.

Tastes vary. Many kids are interested in reading about weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes, while others like funny books featuring Garfield the cat. Kids also like picture books or books with scary themes.

Adults have different tastes. Some like nonfiction; others like Christian romance or mysteries.

The women like the variety of traveling on the bookmobile, though they said they miss having a garage on site. After the new county library was built, there wasn’t a garage for the bookmobile. It is parked in a county building north of Minot.