The Readmobile, in all her glory. Samir Iydroose Photos.
Awilda Candelaria can drive to the library, but recently, she’s had no need to. The New Haven Free Public Library’s (NHFPL) Readmobile has made that unnecessary.
The Readmobile, a 26-foot long orange bus that stopped in Fair Haven Tuesday morning, is a mobile library branch that makes visits to Fair Haven, Fair Haven Heights, and the East Shore each week. Launched in late May, the bus stops at the Atwater Senior Center on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to noon, Bella Vista Apartments on Tuesdays from 1 to 2:30 p.m. and the East Shore Senior Center on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon.
“The Readmobile is our ‘library on wheels,’ designed to expand equitable access to library services by bringing books, materials, programs, and connections directly to residents,” said City Librarian Maria Bernhey at the launch earlier this summer. “The Readmobile plays a key role in advancing literacy, lifelong learning, digital access, and community connection. Library staff are excited to be with residents and visit locations across the Elm City.”
Candelaria, who has been coming to the Atwater Senior Center for three years, is a perfect example of how it works. During her visit on Tuesday, she returned an old book, and checked out a book about chair yoga, which she hadn’t been looking for, but found while browsing.
“It is the only kind of yoga I can do,” she said. “If I throw myself on the floor, I cannot get up, so this is great.” Candelaria said she goes weekly or biweekly to the Readmobile, and said she finds a lot of cool things.
“Before I retired, it was work work work then I had my kid’s activities and sports, so I didn’t go to the library,” she said. “I love [the Readmobile] because of the availability.”
Ryan Munasinghe and Gino Cordone holding up their favorite books in the Readmobile’s collection.
The Readmobile was first introduced in 2001, though the current vehicle was introduced in 2014. In its initial years, it focused primarily on getting books to children, but as of June 2026, there are scheduled visits to various historically underserved communities that would normally be unable to go to one of New Haven’s five public library branches.
So far in 2026, with the bus operating for three months, the Readmobile has surpassed the total circulation for the entirety of 2025, and “almost doubled” the number of community members it has served, according to NHFPL Public Services Administrator Rory Martorana.
In 2024, the Readmobile circulated 68 books, serving a total of 462 people over eight stops. Last year, it circulated 309 books, serving almost 950 patrons. This year, that number is up to over 400 books, and almost 250 community members with months to go. Since this May, the Readmobile has made 17 stops and outreach visits, compared to 22 in the entirety of 2025.
Two people operate and manage the bus: Ryan Munasinghe, who works in the Young Minds & Family Learning (YMFL) department, and Gino Cordone, who works at Ives Squared, a makerspace inside the Ives Branch.
Cordone has been working on the bus for a year, and said that he and Munasinghe have a “very cavalier attitude in serving the public.” Both enjoy working on the bus and hope to operate it on a more full-time basis in the future.
“Right now, we are really only using the bus on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and maybe some events,” Cordone said. “There are so many people who are disabled or elderly who can’t make it to the library, and we should be able to bring the library to them.”
In addition to books, the bus has an awning for sunny days, a vacuum to clean the carpet, and a wheelchair ramp. It is also air conditioned.
“Sometimes we get people to come in off the sidewalk for [the air conditioning],” Cordone said. “Then we sucker ‘em into a library card.”
The vehicle is also built with shelves that are angled upward, and custom “ear ends,” in order to prevent the books from “flying off” or falling sideways when the bus turns or starts moving. Cordone said that these measures “only sometimes work.”
The bus is also chaperoned by two stuffed animals: a tiger, who doesn’t have a name and was recently left behind from a baby shower that the Readmobile went to last week, and Spidey, a stuffed spider and longtime resident of the Readmobile.
“Kids really love [Spidey] and they ask to take him but we can't loan it out,” said Cordone. “We refuse to put a barcode in him.”
The collection in the Readmobile is curated by Soma Mitra, the YMFL supervisor, and Martorana. Munasinghe and Cordone do not have a lot of say in the collection, though they can request books to be added to it.
Cordone said that since the bus has started coming to senior centers, there have been a lot more requests for mysteries, large-print books, and Spanish-language books.
Mitra said that the biggest issue in curating the collection is space, and that the collection is always being modified. Currently, she is working on getting new board books, because the books on the bus are “very dated” and she wants the board books to be both diverse and educational.
“It is hard to add a lot of stuff due to the space,” she said. “So we try to curate a good collection… We want it to be diverse and also educational, about colors, shapes, and numbers.”
Additionally, she is also working to add more recent graphic novels, describing them as the “new hot thing,” and more Spanish-language books, as New Haven is a “very diverse community” and the selection should reflect that.
All three librarians said they really love the bookmobile, and the joy it can spread to people. “When someone walks in and sees a whole library,” Mitra said. “Their expression is just the best thing to watch.”
This article comes from the ninth and current cohort of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI). From June 29 through August 21, YAJI students pitch, report, write and edit stories with Arts Paper Editor Lucy Gellman, Program Assistants Abiba Biao and Grayce Howe and Mentor Ruby Szekeres. Samir Iydroose is a rising junior at Hamden High School.