Laura Moulton, Portland Oregon's Street Librarian

Meet Portland's "Street Librarian". Laura Moulton Provides Books to the Homeless. (Portland Mercury, 6/30/2011)

Excerpt:   If you ever find yourself at Skidmore Fountain on a Wednesday afternoon, keep an eye out for Laura Moulton: She's the lady with the trike full of books.

Portland's self-appointed "Street Librarian" recently received a Regional Arts and Culture Council grant to fund a project called Street Books, a mobile library that provides books for the homeless. The bike-powered library has a small trailer full of 40-odd books—a diverse collection skewing slightly toward regional authors (Jim Lynch, Benjamin Parzybok, Kevin Sampsell). Moulton sets up twice a week, at the Skidmore Fountain on Wednesdays and in the Park Blocks on Saturdays; patrons receive a library card printed with hours and location. The project also includes an online documentary component (streetbooks.org), where any patron who wants to can have their photo and book selection spotlighted—the site features upward of 35 so far.

While we spoke, Moulton shuffled through a stack of neatly labeled index cards, filing a book that had just been returned—yes, in the finest library tradition, she uses a card catalog.