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Outreach Lobby Stops: Safety and Community for Senior Patrons

  • Kathryn Borton
  • Nov 14
  • 2 min read
An RHPL Lobby stop patron stands in front of carts of books, holding a small dog.
A happy RHPL lobby patron and her companion

BoB (Books on Board), RHPL’s mini bookmobile, visits seven senior residences weekly throughout our service community. Outreach staff bring library services into the senior residences via book carts and laptops. This personalized interior service is known as a lobby stop. Librarians select the newest large print and regular print titles to take into the locations, and the carts feature bestsellers and popular authors. A small magazine collection has also been developed for BoB, particularly for our lobby stop patrons, as we discovered many residents enjoy paging through these. Our newest, and very small, collection available is large print book kits!


"We really appreciate you coming here. So many of us can’t drive now, and it is so nice that you come inside because I am too nervous to go outside when there is ice and snow."

An image of an RHPL book kit and book. A green bag with the RHPL logo and a card describing the contents. The book displayed is called The Blanket cats
RHPL Book Discussion Kit

Just as any patron at the library can do, the residents can place holds on specific titles and authors, and these requests are delivered during lobby service once they are available. Many of the residences have active book clubs, and their book club kits are delivered through the lobby service as well. Outreach staff can issue new library cards to newly arrived residents and renew existing cards, eliminating the need to make a trip to the library. Lobby stops are very convenient for senior patrons to receive library service. This is particularly convenient during winter weather. One lobby stop resident recently said, “We really appreciate you coming here. So many of us can’t drive now, and it is so nice that you come inside because I am too nervous to go outside when there is ice and snow.” BoB’s lobby stops are noted in maroon on the weekly schedule and marked with an asterisk. BoB provides service directly in the van in parking lots in various locations throughout the community, and they are noted in teal on the weekly schedule.


For questions about our bookmobile service or to request to become a bookmobile stop, please contact the Outreach Department.




This post was written by Kathryn Borton, Outreach Librarian, at Rochester Hills Public Library

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