Bibliobicicleta is taking San Francisco by storm
A man is strolling down the 200 block of Turk Street when he sees a wooden shelf on wheels.
It’s completely filled with books – hard covers, paperbacks, graphic novels, children’s stories – and upgraded to a blue e-bike with a brown leather seat and matching handlebars. He pulls a cookbook from the extensive selection and flips through a page, blinking at it for a few moments while mumbling a recipe to himself and trying to memorize it.
Alicia Tapia peeks over at him.
“Free Books!” she calls.
He looks confused, or maybe he doesn’t quite hear her.
“What do you do with it?” he asks. “Buy? Sell?”
Tapia shakes her head. “No, you are free.”
His eyes widen. “You mean I can have this?”
Tapia nods.
“Oh st!” he says, a big grin spreading across his face as he presses the book to his chest. “Thanks very much.”
Free books at Bibliobicicleta, a mobile bike library, in the Safe Passage Park in the Tenderloin.
Charles Russo / SFGATE
Tapia has gotten used to this reaction since she started the Bibliobicicleta pop-up library in 2013, which gave away hundreds of free books over the years while she cycled to parks, beaches, and sidewalks across San Francisco.
A few days ago she rode her bike to Le Dix-Sept Patisserie in the Mission District, where a little girl asked if she could buy a book to read to her younger sister. When Tapia told her she could keep it, she was speechless.
Elsewhere, in the Golden Gate Park Music Hall, it usually attracts a bevy of curious teenage skateboarders to browse the shelves and go with a book or two.
“They always say, ‘Oh wait, free books? Rad! ‘”She said with a laugh. “It’s an unexpected concept for most people because in this world it always comes to the point, you know? But it’s different here. Sometimes people just can’t believe that they can keep something without paying for it or doing something in return. They will ask, ‘What’s the catch? What are you trying to promote here? ‘ And I say: ‘I don’t know, read?’ “
Alicia Tapia poses with her books in the Bibliobicicleta, a mobile bicycle library, in the Safe Passage Park in the Tenderloin.
Courtesy Alicia Tapia / @ bibliobicicleta
When Tapia first started the pedal-powered project, all she had was her trusty white Rockhopper mountain bike with a front-mounted basket. Then she was a school librarian at De Marillac Academy on Golden Gate Avenue, taking donated books that didn’t make it to the shelves with a handful on her daily walk through the panhandle. (Books aren’t always on display in the library for a variety of reasons – either there are enough copies already or the staff knows they don’t necessarily attract their customers, Tapia explained.)
“Shelf space is a valuable asset, so we have to be selective about what we offer out there,” she said. “Sometimes too many books can repel people, just as overcrowded second-hand shops overwhelm customers – too many books can appear deficient in specialist libraries.”
So she put a handwritten sign on her bike frame. “La Bibliobicicleta” was it with a simple call to action. “Take a book, READ!”
A woman flips through books in Bibliobicicleta in Safe Passage Park.
Charles Russo / SFGATE
Sometimes Tapia would chat with people when she was walking around the park, but other days she would lock the bike and walk away while doing some errands. To her great excitement, she found that all of the books were gone when she returned.
“When I saw people being baited, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to go one step further?'” Said Tapia.
Of course, she was familiar with mobile books and had seen the rise in Little Free Libraries – although she felt that they weren’t always available to the communities they wanted to serve.
Tapia therefore took inspiration from Luis Soriano, a Spanish teacher also known as Biblioburro, who has traveled to remote and rural communities in Colombia for the past 20 years to bring free books to students who did not have access to them at home Donkeys, Alfa and Beto, in tow.
Tapia also read about a Portland nonprofit called Street Books, founded in 2011 that promotes literacy among unhodged residents. At the same time, the Oakland Public Library had recently established its own fleet of bicycle libraries.
“I was kind of shocked that there wasn’t one in San Francisco,” said Tapia. “So I stopped thinking about it and decided to do something.”
Alicia Tapia has taken Bibliobicicleta to dozens of locations across San Francisco, including Golden Gate Park.
Courtesy Alicia Tapia / @ bibliobicicleta
With the help of a librarian friend and friend, Danielle Farinacci – who also encouraged her to start cycling around town – Tapia drew up a few blueprints that would eventually turn into the mobile bike library she has today. A Kickstarter campaign helped her find funding and she unexpectedly exceeded her target within 48 hours, mostly through small donations.
“I believe in the accessibility of everything, and I think others do too,” said Tapia. “It’s portable and people can show up anytime. There is a freedom that comes with it. “
Today Tapia is Director of Library and Information Services at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory and the Haight-Ashbury Junction, to name a few.
She drove eight miles from the Embarcadero to the Great Highway (“I love when there are no cars,” she said) and parked in front of venues like the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Roxie Theater, where a short film about Tapia’s project is being directed by Kristin Tieche from Comedians on Bicycles Getting Bobs was shown at the 2017 Green Film Festival.
Alicia Tapia rides Bibliobicicleta, a mobile bicycle library, to the Safe Passage Park in the Tenderloin.
Charles Russo / SFGATE
But on that clear Wednesday afternoon, Tapia is stationed in Safe Passage Park in the Tenderloin, where she’s been stopping by almost every week since the sidewalk was built in June.
“It feels like home,” said Tapia. “In the years I’ve worked at De Marillac, I’ve really come to appreciate this part of town and what it means to those who really know it. It’s a place where people show up for one another – parents, children, families, people just trying to get through the day. You see the full spectrum of humanity and there is an understanding that everyone is just trying to get through. So let’s not make this any more difficult. I really admire that. That’s what community means to me, and I’m lucky enough to be a part of it. “
“It’s an unexpected concept for most people because it’s always popular in this world, you know? But it’s different here,” said Alicia Tapia.
Charles Russo / SFGATE
Today Tapia fills her library with more donated books than ever, mostly from residents and regular visitors she meets on her weekly forays around town. She also receives some funding through her Patreon, and her current priority is to find a garage space where the 1.5 by 13 meter Bibliobicicleta can find a permanent home. (The Tenderloin Community Benefit District has temporarily made storage space available to her near the Parklet).
She explains to me that there are no fees or fines at Bibliobicicleta and there never will be. When people stop by and choose a book, they aren’t expected to return it – just to give it to a friend or family member who may also enjoy reading it.
A wooden bookcase on wheels contains Bibliobicicleta, a mobile bicycle library.
Charles Russo / SFGATE
Searching through shelves of varying heights, I discover a copy of The Magic School Bus and realize that it was one of my favorite books as a kid.
Tapia grins.
“In a way, I think I’m a bit like Miss Frizzle,” she says. “But I have the magic library.”
Alicia Tapia and Bibliobicicleta will be back at Safe Passage Park on December 1st and 8th. Follow @bibliobicicleta on Instagram to find out where she’s going next.
Alicia Tapia rides Bibliobicicleta, a mobile bicycle library, to the Safe Passage Park in the Tenderloin.
Charles Russo / SFGATE
