For more than 30 years, the eastern Greene County town of Strafford has been one of 23 stops on the rural routes traveled by the Springfield-Greene County Library District’s bookmobile. Every week, young and old line up and climb aboard the 33-foot behemoth and check out whatever is on the slanting shelves.

Bookmobile drivers Rob Manning and Sheri Casada greet and welcome the customers to the white-and-teal, library-on-wheels at the corner of Pine and Jefferson Streets every Monday afternoon. About five years ago, the crush of patrons necessitated extending the bookmobile’s visit to four hours.

Late this summer, the bookmobile will park at the corner for the last time and the citizens of Strafford and the surrounding area, about 5,700 people, will have their own branch library. The Strafford Branch Library will be located about two blocks north in a rental storefront in a recently built strip shopping center called Chestnut Plaza.

“We are happy to provide services for the growing community of Strafford,” said Library Executive Director Annie Busch. “For years, Strafford residents have supported the bookmobile and its staff and we are pleased to be able to open a small branch in their town and provide children, teens and adults with all the library services they need.”

The new Strafford Branch Library will occupy 2,500 square feet in two bays in the small shopping center just south of Interstate 44. “The location is near Strafford schools and will be easily accessible to the students,” said Allison Eckhardt, manager of the new branch and the library’s outreach services department. Eckhardt, a Strafford resident, is the mother of two teens who attend Strafford schools.

"The opening of the Strafford Branch Library this summer will be a momentous occasion for Strafford, but it also marks a watershed for the Library District,” said Busch. The library will be the tenth in the District and the fifth outside of Springfield.

City facilities include the two “destination libraries"—the Library Center on South Campbell Avenue and the Library Station on North Kansas Expressway—the Brentwood and Midtown Carnegie Branches and the new downtown facility, the Park Central Branch.

Four other branch libraries are located in the County towns of Republic, Willard, Ash Grove and Fair Grove.