From April through October each year, Oak Park’s two book bikes—Paperback Rider and Anne of Green Fables—bring the library beyond our three brick-and-mortar buildings. Thanks to Oak Park for a wonderful 10th season in 2025. See you out and about in 2026!
What do book bikes deliver?
Library staff stock the cargo bikes with books and other library materials. Weather permitting, we ride the bikes to schools, parks, block parties, local businesses, summer camps, community festivals, and more. We tailor our collections to each location—bringing cookbooks and gardening manuals to the Oak Park Farmers’ Market, for example, and children’s books to park and daycare storytimes.
By meeting residents where they are, we create meaningful connections and make library resources more accessible. The book bikes are a fun, personal, and eco-friendly way to engage with both regular library users and those who may face barriers to visiting our physical locations.
What can you do at a book bike?
When you visit a book bike, you can:
- Apply for a library card
- Use your library card to check out materials
- Listen to a storytime
- Learn about library services and programs
Please note: Book bikes cannot accept returns or fees.
More about our book bikes
The original idea, which libraries in other cities like Seattle also have adopted, was developed by Chicagoan Gabriel Levinson in 2008. For years, Levinson rode his custom-built book bike around Chicago parks, handing out free books.
Paperback Rider
Our first book bike, crafted by Haley Tricycles in Philadelphia and shipped to Oak Park in April 2015, was funded by generous donations to the library’s Fallon Family Fund, a dedicated fund established to help the library deliver cutting-edge projects and resources for all of our community’s children.
Affectionately nicknamed “Paperback Rider” in a community naming campaign, the three-wheeled mobile library has been delivering resources and good cheer throughout the area, improving access to materials since the spring of 2015.
Anne of Green Fables
Also crafted by Haley Tricycles, this electric-assist bike was funded by generous donations to the Oak Park Public Library Capital Fund. It was named “Anne of Green Fables” in a 2024 community naming campaign.
“Green + fables? How can you go wrong?” said Marla Rose, the community member who suggested the name. Marla said she loves a good pun and promoting female authors, so we think she knocked this one out of the windswept seaside fields with her twist on the classic children’s novel by L. M. Montgomery.
Anne is slightly larger than Paperback Rider and can hold more cargo. Riders can adjust the power levels of the five-speed electric motor, which determines how much energy the rider needs to put in and how much the motor will contribute. This electric assist can help riders pedal the cargo bike more easily and go a bit faster, which helps staff feel safer especially while crossing large intersections.