Did any other Boston Globe readers out there catch this story tragically headlined, "Bookmobile's Final Chapter?" Oh bookmobile...As most of you smart folks can probably figure out, the article is about the end of the bookmobile, those roving vans full of books that typically travel to places where people cannot easily get to a local public library - rural areas, low income areas, and senior centers especially. I was heartbroken by this story, but truth be told, they had me at the photo of driver Linda Caravaggio from Beverly's Bookmobile, above. Look at the interior of that vehicle! Ah, sweet, sweet chaos...
I guess the luddite in me still resists seeing the internet and its technology as the savior of the future, resists giving online communities the same value as in-person communities. Like farmers markets, bookmobiles and libraries give people the opportunity to talk to, ya know, other people. As online reviews and tagging replaces handselling and word-of-mouth, there seems to me so many possibilities for covert corporate involvement. Am I sounding all conspiracy-theory-ish? I don't mean to. I just trust Caravaggio, on sight, a lot more than a pop-up.
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