By Brooke West, FCPL Outreach Manager

You might think that hiding the Bookmobile would be a bad way to get people to visit, but instead, it started a cult following! June 2025 was Forsyth County Public Library’s (FCPL) second year of running a program called “Where’s Loanie” to great success. Every week, we drew an average of 40 people (of all ages!) to each location. This program is a great way for Outreach to engage with the community, increase Bookmobile awareness, and deliver exciting library programs outside of the library buildings. 

How It Works

Every Friday in June, the FCPL Bookmobile, lovingly named Loanie, “hides” at a secret location in the county for one hour. The week before each stop, patrons can view two riddles and two partially obscured photos on a dedicated webpage or social media post to figure out where to find us. The program is drop-in friendly, but most of our patrons stay for the whole hour of programming. Besides the fun programs and novelty of the Bookmobile, patrons are also incentivized to attend with special Bookmobile-only summer reading prizes.

The Stops

In 2025, we decided to restrict stops to community places. We chose:

• The fire department, where patrons participated in a clothing relay race, made tiny fire trucks out of paper, met with the firemen, and toured the fire trucks.

• Sawnee Mountain Park, where patrons got to make lightning bugs out of easter eggs, learn the Bee Dance, and talk with a beekeeper, who even let the kids try on his beekeeping outfit.

• The YMCA, where patrons got to see a 45-minute Puppetpalooza show, complete with stop dancing and shaky egg songs.

• Matt Park, where patrons got to throw paintballs at a huge canvas tarp and make their own tiny bookmobile out of paper.

The Impact

“Where’s Loanie” is a great way to engage patrons who do not get to visit the Bookmobile regularly. The monthly route is concentrated in the northern portion of the county, where mobile library services are more needed. With “Where’s Loanie,” we get to plan stops in the southern portion at highly visible locations. The fire department, which is next to a major highway, was a great location that drew in many people off the highway who had never heard of the Bookmobile before. 

“Where’s Loanie” strengthens relationships with county organizations and spreads awareness of FCPL’s outreach efforts. After hiding at the YMCA, Outreach was invited to speak at events for older adults, hang flyers and bookmarks advertising programs, and put on puppet shows in their childcare room. Planning the visits with the Parks Department led to new contacts and opportunities to bring the Bookmobile to events we otherwise would not have known about.

Overall, the sheer joy this program brings, both to patrons and Outreach staff, makes the hard work and sweaty days worth it.

 

Stay tuned to https://www.forsythpl.org/where-is-loanie or follow us on Facebook @FoCoLibrary to see 2026’s program!