I was amazed that so many different people were interested in the Bookmobile, and for so many different reasons; I met a man whose four-year-old son writes stories and would love to see them put together in a little book. Two others, both young teachers, wanted to bring the Bookmobile to their school to show their students. A homeless man told me his friends down the road wrote poetry but didn't have the money or resources to self-publish their work, and we talked about how the Bookmobile, or something like it, might be a great way to help with this. A younger guy came by on his bicycle and asked me all about copyright law and the internet, and I told him about Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

All in all, it was an inspiring afternoon. And while I'd love to help with all these projects that everyone I met brought up, the Bookmobile can only do so much. However, this is where all of you come in: if anything you read on here sounds like a project you or someone you know would be interested in, or if you have ideas of your own, there's no time like now to get them started. The more people there are helping to enable these kinds of projects -- whether it's using equipment and technology like that of the Bookmobile to help young children compile their stories, to help the homeless self-publish their work, or to help teach high schoolers about electronic copyright law and blogging -- the more free and widespread the sharing of knowledge and creative work will be. You don't need anyone's permission to make these things happen; all it takes are resources, energy, and creativity.

However, if you have any questions, please do contact me at kirsten@archive.org. Inspiration, ideas for places to visit, new friends, and volunteers, are also always, always welcome.

Stay tuned for more posts about the Bookmobile's hijinks!

-Kirsten, resident Bookmobilist

Contact us to have the Bookmobile stop in your town: post to the forum below