Climbing the steps onto the Ames Public Library’s Bookmobile almost feels like climbing into a treehouse. Once inside, the vehicle sways back and forth.The 16-year-old Bookmobile, which holds 3,000 popular books and videos, is falling apart.”Every time we bring it in for something small, it turns into something big,” said Kay Marner, library assistant who works on the Bookmobile. “It leaks when it rains, and we have to move the books so they don’t get ruined.”Lynne Carey, outreach director for the library, said the Bookmobile, which gets around 50,000 visitors a year, has been patched as much as it can be.Because of the wear and tear, the library is raising money for a new Bookmobile, planned to make its debut in five months.”We’ll get the new Bookmobile at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, provided we can pay for it,” Marner said. “Payment is due on delivery.”The fund is currently short about $43,000 on the $170,000 price tag of a new Bookmobile.Money for the new vehicle has come from an $85,000 replacement fund, a $25,000 pledge from the library’s private fund and $17,000 from fund raising.The library is selling canvas book totes for $15 to help raise the needed funds. The Friends of the Ames Public Library bought the totes for the library, so 100 percent of the proceeds go directly to the fund, Marner said.Of the nine stops the Bookmobile makes weekly, the most popular is University Village, Carey said. “We all fight over who gets to go there,” she said.Marner also said the library staff likes the interaction with community members.”I think the Bookmobile is really about Iowa values,” said Marner, who was working the Friday night University Village stop. “We know the names of the people and their kids’ names and we get to know their preferences or what topic they enjoy.”She also said the bookmobile is an important service to the Ames community.”It’s been busy. There were at least 12 people waiting outside before we even got our power on,” Marner said. “A lot of international students don’t have transportation to the main library, so this makes it more accessible.”The library views its Bookmobile as a branch library, and it actually meets community needs better than a building could.”It’s a lot more efficient to fund a Bookmobile than to build a branch library,” said Teresa Rosenberg, a library assistant working with Marner Friday night. “A lot of people never go to the main library,” she said. “This is their only contact.”Ming Li, graduate student in zoology and genetics, and his 7-year old son, Runbo, were among the visitors intently browsing for books Friday night.”It’s very convenient for us. In just a few minutes we can get a lot of books,” he said.For Li and the other Bookmobile regulars, raising the money for the new vehicle is an important goal to attain.”We need this,” he said.