The Brooklyn Public Library turned a page for Bay Ridge readers last week, doubling temporary service at a library branch undergoing a two-year rehab.
The Library had initially dispatched its sole “Bookmobile” to the Fort Hamilton branch on Fourth Avenue and 94th Street just one day a week during the 103-year-old building’s $3.6-million renovation.
But bookworms and elected officials demanded more visits by the baby-blue, 32-foot-long, book-filled bus.
“We only have one and it needs to spread its time between various branches and community centers,” said Library spokeswoman Stephanie Arck.
That wasn’t good enough for Rep. Vito Fossella (R–Bay Ridge) and Councilmen Vince Gentile (D–Bay Ridge) and Domenic Recchia (D–Coney Island).
Last week, the Library agreed, adding Wednesday to the existing Monday service in Bay Ridge. But even with the expanded service, some readers are giving a bad review to the cramped bookmobile.
“It needs to be bigger, it needs to have better books, and we need to be able to pick up our reserves there,” said one voracious reader who went regularly to the Fort Hamilton branch.
