As two library staff members wheeled a book cart down the hall, an excited Ramona Lauber called out to her friends.

It was the Toledo Lucas County Public Library's monthly visit to Sacred Heart Home in Oregon, part of rounds to more than 50 nursing homes and health-care sites. An outfitted truck, the “Book Hauler,” straps rows of books and DVDs in place for delivery.

“When we hear they're coming, everything stops to make sure we're here in our room when he's going to show up,” Ms. Lauber said Thursday.

The library in 1937 started its bookmobile service to visit patrons outside its buildings. In this program, workers can go room to room to meet readers, said Pat Nigro, the library's outreach services manager.

“In many of the facilities that we serve, we actually set up in the common meeting room or the activities room and people come down with their walkers and come to see us,” Ms. Nigro said.

This truck expands the library's outreach and establishes a one-on-one relationship with lifelong learners, she said.

“It is so much fun to build on a person's reading interest and then, in a sense, recommending other authors so that they can broaden their reading taste,” Ms. Nigro said

Ms. Lauber, 69, flipped through an eclectic mix of her requests and recommended picks. They included a Tito Puente record, a Lonely Planet travel guide, and a book by comedian Bob Hope.

“Sometimes I like [something] peaceful. Sometimes I like to shake it up a little bit,” she said over an assortment of salsa music.

Borrowed items like these are a way to be in her “own world.” Ms. Lauber jots down topics that interest her and asks for them from the library.

The program is perfect for those who enjoy reading and cannot visit the library, Ms. Lauber said.

“These books, I kind of get out of myself, and it's nice,” she said. “I can still walk, and there's things to do, but with my books and stuff here, I'm self-contained.”.

For Kass McCreight, 94, the outreach program is a chance to find new authors and books.

“I just love to have them, because they've always got books for me to read,” she said.

Georgia Balk, 91, said it lifts her feelings when the library workers visit.

“They give me a nice choice of books, biographies, and all kinds of interesting topics,” she said. “I take just about anything that they give me,” she said.

Contact Ryan Dunn at rdunn@theblade.com, 419-724-6095, or on Twitter @RDunnBlade.

First Published January 26, 2018, 11:38 p.m.