WINNEMUCCA — For bookworms and students who live far from town, the Humboldt County Library’s bookmobile is the link to books, magazines, and even a computer to do some research. The bookmobile, however, has not lived up to the library staff's expectations.

Humboldt County purchased the bookmobile from Santa Barbara, Calif. nearly two years ago. One of the many great features were the solar panels, which were supposed to conserve energy.

However, the heating and cooling systems run by the solar panels do not always work.  In the summer the bookmobile is sometimes a mobile oven.  In the winter, there are days when it's a mobile igloo.

The extreme temperature changes aren’t good for the books, either.

Humboldt County Library Director Sherry Allen appeared ready to throw in the towel when she was before the Humboldt County Commissioners on Monday (Nov. 7).

She said it would cost $25,000 to replace the solar panels with generators and replace the heating/cooling system.  In addition, the bookmobile needs new tires, and the inside is always covered in dust.

Allen took the time to apologize to Bookmobile Specialist Ginny Dufurrena for her working conditions.

Allen suggested, on behalf of the Library Board, the commission list the bookmobile for sale and look into buying something new.

Although Commissioner Tom Fransway questioned whether the commission got duped on this particular purchase, referring to the bookmobile as a lemon, that might not be the case.

The bookmobile was designed for Santa Barbara, Calif. with its paved roads, short distances to travel, and moderate temperatures.

While Humboldt County might have the best gravel roads you’ll find anywhere, they’re still gravel roads.  The bookmobile does have gaps in the weather stripping that might allow dust to flow through, cover everything, and clog important elements to the heating and cooling system.

Humboldt County Road Superintendent Ben Garrett, on the other hand, thought the bookmobile could be salvaged.

He said the county has spent roughly $9,000 in maintenance/repairs on the bookmobile to include new batteries, which are the core of the solar electrical system, and a new thermostat.

He said, and Ginny agreed, when the bookmobile is working it works great. But that’s not always the case.  Because the problems are electrical, they can also be hard to track down. Sometimes the bookmobile has been brought to the county shop and they can’t find a thing wrong with it. The problem resolved itself. Until the next time.

Commissioner Jim French disclosed the company doing the diagnostics on the solar panel problem is owned by his son.

He quoted his son as saying when the bus was originally wired for solar panels the people completing the installation attempted to cross the solar battery system with the battery that operates the engine. In doing so, they created a problem that creates imbalance between the batteries, which creates a power draw.

He said son felt the problem could be fixed and the system had a lot of potential.

That was good news for the commissioners, who did not appear to support the idea of either paying $25,000 for generators and a new heating/cooling system or buying a new bookmobile.

Commissioner Mike Bell said it was his impression the bookmobile was mechanically sound, as there haven’t been any real problems with the engine, and did not favor either selling it or getting rid of it.

The group was instructed to check into repairing the bookmobile then report back to the commission.

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