Hop on board the Palmerston North Mobile Library

Jahvan McLaren-Knight, 7, has a moment in the driver's seat of the mobile library. Photo / Judith Lacy

The wheels on the bus do go round and round, but book lovers are happier when they don't.

The Palmerston North Mobile Library has been on the road since 1967 and Rob Bradshaw has been behind the wheel and checkout desk for 20-plus years.

He starts his day by picking up the bus from the Ferguson St city council depot then going to Central Library to restock. Then he's out for the day - mornings are for school visits and afternoons are timetabled public stops.

From last August, the bus was off the road for about six months due to Covid-19 as visitors could not physically distance inside. Bradshaw mainly worked at the community libraries during that time but missed the changing scenery the mobile library provides.

When this reporter commented the bus is narrower than it appears from the outside, Bradshaw quipped it was the opposite of the Tardis.

We are at Terrace End School for the morning. Books on Lego, Star Wars and Minecraft are popular with tamariki as are comics, graphic novels, Tintin, the Ella Diaries, Dog Man, The Baby-Sitters Club, Asterix and even Enid Blyton. Children's cooking books are also sought after by budding chefs inspired by TV cooking shows, he says.

"You get to know your customers so you can take stuff out that is targeted towards that."

There's large print books useful for rest home residents and books in a range of languages including French, Chinese, Arabic, and German.

Terrace End School students Zoya Saddik, 9, Melzina Martin, 10, and Nevaeh Raroa-Lloyd, 9. Photo / Judith Lacy

As the classes come and go, the students' comments amuse and gladden the heart.

"Wow, look at that one."

"I like taking my book home so I can read my book with my mum at bedtime."

"Garfield! Garfield!"

"I thought I would find a Wally book."

Palmerston North mobile librarian Rob Bradshaw loves his job. Photo / Judith Lacy

Bradshaw says he gets to know a lot of people in the community and feels like he is doing a community service. "It's a good job, why would I want to do anything else."

People will say hello when they see him around town and he has now got customers who started visiting as children bringing their offspring.

"If you have got to go to work this is a good a place to go, to be honest."

He helps a lot of children join the City Library - six the morning this reporter visited.

From Leicester in England, Bradshaw moved to New Zealand in 1991. He was a truck driver before coming downunder.