The County Bookmobile Service of the Marko Marulić City Library Split participated in the 17th Conference on Mobile Libraries and the Bookmobile Festival "Mobile Libraries of the Future - An Open Path to Users" in Virovitica on June 5 and 6, 2025, where, through digital voting, it won the "Mister Bookmobile 2025" award for the most beautiful bookmobile, thanks also to the illustrations by Dona Tomić.
The festival brought together all 16 mobile library services from all over Croatia, with a large number of new mobile library services and mobile library services, and mobile library services from Bulgaria, the region and the world also participated. Among the new mobile library services is our service, which is something that the library director Grozdana Ribičić is particularly proud of. The organizers are the Croatian Library Association, the Mobile and Public Library Commissions, and the co-organizer, along with the Librarians' Association of Bilogora, Podravina and Kalnički prigorje, is the Virovitica City Library and Reading Room, which was an excellent host of the conference and festival. The program was officially opened by the Minister of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Nina Obuljen Koržinek, who announced new investments in the development of the mobile library network at the level of the Republic of Croatia.
Participating in the conference and the Festival was an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas on an international level, given that librarians from Finland, Ukraine, Spain, Serbia, Hungary, and even the United States participated, and the coordinator of American mobile library services really liked the work of our mobile library service.
A special attraction of our library bus was another mobile library – an electric bicycle with which librarian Maruška Nardelli delivers books to our library's users with limited mobility.
Petra Skelin Giljanović, coordinator of the service and head of the project "For good vibes - read books" with which the mobile library service was launched, along with service employees Lucrezia Odrljin, driver and library technician, and Ana Gruica, library technician, prepared a poster presentation "No winter with Marulić" about the service and projects in which she participated, such as the project "No winter with Marulić in Dicma", but also "Wandering writers". Also, through the video presentation "My Saint Duje, take care of your mobile library!", they presented to the attendees some interesting situations that the service employees have encountered in the field in the last two years since the service was established. These are the specificities of the Split-Dalmatia County, current road works and the accompanying kilometer-long columns, weather (un)conditions, encounters with domestic animals, and the like. The presentation also emphasized the importance of the mobile library in the Split-Dalmatia County, thanks to which residents have access to information and cultural and educational activities almost on their doorstep. For many residents of rural areas, the arrival of the library bus helps prevent feelings of loneliness and, in addition to its informative role, also has an important social role. The video is available at the link .https://youtu.be/0bmsUh0FX7A
Thanks to the support of the Tourist Board of the City of Split and the Tourist Board of the Split-Dalmatia County, Festival participants had the opportunity to receive promotional materials about Split and the Split-Dalmatia County, and in this way the mobile library service contributed to the promotion of the area from which it comes.
The GKMM Split County Library Service currently has around 1260 users, visits 25 stops in the Split-Dalmatia County, and has around 6700 units of books and non-books that can be borrowed. The majority of users are children and young people. Free registration is available for all users at the library stops, regardless of age, and books and other materials can also be borrowed from the remaining 12 libraries in the GKMM Split network. In 2024, around 150 activities were held on the library bus, which included reading stories, art workshops, visits by writers, plays, and educational activities, and this trend continues.
Photo: ŽSD
