CU Boulder is bike friendly, so it’s not unusual to see people pedaling bicycles around campus. What is new to the wheeled community, however, is a library on wheels.
Megan Welsh, interdisciplinary arts and humanities librarian, took a specially outfitted bike for a spin on campus when it was launched during New Student Welcome in July. Named InfoMotion, the bike has an attached cabinet used to transport information about University Libraries, promotional materials and, of course, books.
The bike is funded through a grant from the University Libraries administration and coordinated by Welsh, who wanted to find a way to build a sense of community and to connect students, faculty and staff with CU Boulder’s five libraries outside of the actual library buildings.
“It’s a way for us to build relationships with our patrons,” Welsh said. “A lot of students don’t know that we have five different library branches on campus. This is a way for us to give them information and put a friendly face on it, too.”
Placement of InfoMotion during the start of the fall semester will introduce students, especially first-year and transfer students, to library employees. During the spring semester, the presence of the library bike will reinforce the support that University Libraries can provide especially during midterms and finals.
Library staff can request the use of InfoMotion, put whatever materials they want in it, including books on a particular topic or theme, and pedal it around campus. Patrons can also check out books from it.
The location of InfoMotion will be posted on CU’s social media sites and placed on a Google map.
“Libraries are the heart of campus,” Welsh said. “This is a versatile mechanism to make the libraries more visible. I would love to see the use of InfoMotion lead to more students coming to the library.”
