The
food truck trend may have
run its course, but not before inspiring a slew of copycats
across various verticals. The latest to take to the road are trucks that, in true
bookmobile tradition, bring educational materials to the masses. These mobile learning centers seek to engage participants with offerings of crowdsourced stories, hands-on techy toys, and, in one case, a visually stimulating space for artistic respite.
Mobile Seed Library: Professions don’t get much more niche than “
seed librarian.” But, in light of an upsurge in
local agriculture—not to mention horticulture’s recent impact on our
homes and
wardrobes—seeds suddenly seem quite relevant. Enter
Seed Broadcast’s
Mobile Seed Library, a traveling collection of stories about seeds, seed networks, and seed preservationists. The truck travels to interview seed collectors and gardeners about their favorite seeds and related anecdotes. Now on the Northeast leg of its tour, the seed library will return to its home base in New Mexico next month, where residents will be able to access its collection just in time for the fall harvest.
SparkTruck: The
maker movement may be flourishing, but
school budgets are not. The potential result is a generation that lacks the engineers, mathematicians and scientists needed to develop new technologies. In attempt to avoid this fate, a group of Stanford PhD candidates dreamed up
SparkTruck, an “educational build mobile” designed to inspire young students into pursuing careers in the sciences. The truck, equipped with the latest in
maker technology (and funded by its successful
Kickstarter campaign), is now
touring from coast to coast, giving kids a chance to create, build and play. Its founders hope to revive, on the micro level, the country’s flailing
academic standards and
related stigmas.
A47 Mobile Library: En route to building a contemporary art museum, civil society non-profit
Alumnos47 sought a space to showcase its growing collection of art books, so they worked with Mexican architecture firm
Productora to create the
A47 Mobile Art Library, a traveling reference room that’s home to 1,200+ books on contemporary art. The mobile vessel is as engaging as the materials it holds. Books are stored on upper-level shelves to conserve floor space for reading and reflection, and the truck’s sides open to create
a light-filled hangout area. Now traveling through Mexico City, this library is not just for bookworms, as it provides a flexible event space for lectures and other gatherings.
