Marion McCarthy was in seventh grade the first time she ever went to a library.
“I’ll never forget to this day, walking in there and seeing all those books. I couldn’t get over it — I was just so excited. And from then on, I really liked the library a lot,” said McCarthy, who is originally from Detroit and moved to St. Paul in 2011 to be closer to her son.
So McCarthy, still an avid reader at 97 years old, was again excited Friday when she received her first Minnesota library card from St. Paul Public Library’s Mobile Library when it visited Episcopal Homes, the senior living community where she lives in St. Paul’s Midway.
“Marion the Librarian,” McCarthy called herself, a nod to a character in the classic Broadway show “The Music Man.”
The library card will make it easier for McCarthy to request books for a monthly book club she’s joined. Until now, she’s had enough books available to her at Episcopal Homes, but that also didn’t stop her on Friday from checking out a book by John Grisham, one of her favorite authors.
“And they were able to get me a book right away, in large print,” McCarthy said.
Mobile Library
Those working on the Mobile Library, formerly known as the bookmobile, want to make sure that people can get the books they want, said mobile library manager Savitri Santhiran. For many, it’s the only regular access they have to a library.
“Every place that we visit faces some sort of barrier. So it could be social, economic, geographic barrier to visiting a regular brick-and-mortar location. So we’re not going to be parking right next to Rondo Library, because there’s already a brick-and-mortar location there,” Santhiran said. “We are going to be in places in St. Paul where there are few services, or no services in a couple cases.”
St. Paul Public Library has had a mobile library service since the late 1800s, Santhiran said. In addition to its books, the Mobile Library also provides or has provided other things, like notary services or digital education or youth engagement activities, such as crafts or STEM activities. The Mobile Library also has a wheelchair lift and large print books to make it more accessible.
Marion McCarthy, 97, of St. Paul, picks the design for her first Minnesota library card, a St. Paul Public Library card, from Mobile Library employee Matthew Metzdorf on Friday, March 28, 2025. (Imani Cruzen / Pioneer Press)
In addition to visits from the Mobile Library, the St. Paul Public Library also works with around 10 partner sites, such as Episcopal Homes, to provide an exchange set — a set of large-print books or books on CD that are lent to the site for three months in order to give residents a longer period of time to access them.
“A lot of people like me, they don’t have a car, and so they, you go online, get a book, and then they come here with the bookmobile, you pick up the book. And it’s very, very convenient, very convenient,” said Lena Brooks, who started the book club McCarthy has joined.
In addition to reading, McCarthy also leads regular exercise classes, has been involved with the Lake Elmo nonprofit Vital Aging Network’s Aging with Gusto series and has worked on “kindness kits” with items for people who are homeless.
“You can still participate, continue learning,” she said.
‘I just like learning’
Typically, McCarthy likes murder mysteries and authors like Grisham or Tom Clancy, but her next book club read will be a biography — though she likes those, too — “Harriet Tubman: Military Scout and Tenacious Visionary” by Jean Marie Wiesen and Rita Daniels.
She might be one of the oldest new recipients of a library card at 97, but McCarthy is accustomed to showing others what they can do, especially at any age — she went to college despite hearing doubts about girls going and even entered a master’s program in her 70s.
“I just like learning, that’s all,” McCarthy said. “I can’t say why.”
To learn more about St. Paul’s Mobile Library and to see its schedule or services, go to sppl.org/mobile-library/.
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