Libraries

The Richmond Library’s Bookmobile is the system’s library on wheels, serving children. The program was founded in 1947, and was the first of its kind west of the Mississippi. The converted bus travels four days a week and visits 21 schools around the city. Students can climb aboard the moving library when it stops at their school for just under an hour and check out up to six books each until the next week. They can also register for a…

Bayview is tucked in a corner next to a fire station in southern Richmond right off Interstate 580. The neighborhood is quiet and feels safe, and the atmosphere inside is similar. Striped wall-to-wall carpeting covers the floor of the library’s single room and bright blue and multi-colored cartoonish couches and chairs provide comfortable seating. Everything is impeccably clean. The library parking lot can hold only four or five cars, but street parking is abundant. Four fast computers sit on a…

The Westside branch is on the island in the middle of downtown Point Richmond, facing Washington Street. It’s an easy stop for anyone running errands in the Point’s  commercial district. The library has no parking lot, but street parking is usually easy to find. Lunch spots and coffee shops surround the library. Like the neighborhood, the Westside library feels peaceful even when it’s busy. Patrons come in and out casually and the librarians are friendly. A square room about the…