AVON, Ohio — The Lorain County Public Library system’s Discovery on the Go van is back on the road.
“Due to the pandemic, it has been off the road for a number of months now. Normally, we actually send it out to daycares, to schools with strong programming components,” said Nick Cronin the outreach service manager for the library system.
It focuses on bringing library services and programs outside of library branches, offering science, technology, engineering, arts and math activities with it.
Right now, those activities will be grab-and-go, first come, first served.
But the van has free WiFi within 100 yards of wherever it’s parked, something that Cronin said is important right now during the pandemic.
“We’re trying at this point to identify different places where we think the need would be would be high for free Internet and where we think there would be groups of people safely spaced who would be able to take make use of that service,” he said.
He said, typically, the library branches are places for people without WiFi to go and have computer access, but that has changed, despite the libraries opening back up.
“It’s difficult for people to come to the library and people are still nervous about coming to public spaces,” said Cronin. “ We want to do what every outreach department does, which is to go out and connect with the community and let them know that the library is still here and that we're supporting you every which way we can as creatively as possible.”
The van will be at ‘Every Child’s Playground’ in Avon from 3-5:30 p.m. today and the community park in Kipton from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24.
