It's a tradition that's still on the road in Hunterdon County. In an age when some communities position themselves as on-ramps to an information superhighway, Hunter don still passes on knowledge from hand to hand.

Some 18th- and 19th-century towns have their own small libraries, but of Hunterdon's three regional libraries, only one, on the outskirts of Clinton, has actual neighbors. The library's bookmo bile provides a link to outlying communities.

"The bookmobile really gives us that ability to go into parts of the county that don't have convenient access to our regional libraries," said Mark Titus, Hunterdon's library director.

"It's great that the bookmobile comes," said Bloomsbury resident Lisa Berg.

She and her 10-year-old daughter Samantha are regular visitors at the vehicle's stop in the parking lot of the Bloomsbury Presbyterian Church. "We can get pretty much anything we want," including Harry Potter books and educational materials for Samantha, who is home schooled, she said.

"It's a great convenience for us here in town," agreed Bloomsbury resident Tracy Moon. Her three children "get very excited to come over" and sort through books and DVDs, while she regularly picks out magazines as well as books.

"It's easy to get new releases here," Moon said, because the bookmobile is well-stocked with new volumes that do not shift to other library branches.

Dorothy McKinnon was picking up books for her grandchildren, who live next door in Bethlehem Township.

But the bookmobile's current edition is nearing the end of the road. After 17 years, 94,000 miles and a month in the shop last year, the county has authorized a replacement from the Ohio Bus Service of Akron.

Delivery of the new bookmobile will take about a year, according to Titus. Although based on models -- Hunterdon uses a 26-foot design -- individual orders are customized to the users' requirements.

Karen Case is celebrating her fifth year with the library, but her association with the bookmobile goes back further.

"I grew up with it," she said. "I lived in Kingwood when I was a kid, and it stopped there."

Others remember the bookmo bile, too, but question its modern role.

"I remember 65 years ago, when I was in elementary school in Tewksbury and the bookmobile came," said Freeholder George Me lick.

But Melick said the county's transportation system, known as the Link, has buses sitting idle "be cause there's no use for them in the middle of the day," he said. They could replace the bookmobile by bringing more people to libraries, he said.

That would mean "an expan sion of services," paying more to the private company contracted to operate the Link, currently Easton Coach, said Freeholder Ron Swo ren. While they could supplement the bookmobile, Link buses could not fill its "unique role" of bringing library resources to communities, he said.

With a 2007 operating cost of about $35,000, including staff, the bookmobile remains a cost-effective way to reach residents, according to library officials. They want to increase its workload, but the cur rent vehicle's creaky condition has limited its usefulness.

"When we get the new vehicle, we'd like to add some permanent stops, like senior citizen complexes where few people drive," said Floyd Saums, the library assistant direc tor.

Schedulers also could add more nursery school visits, where librarians hold story programs, he said. Already, the itinerary includes some community events, and more could be added in the summer, with a reliable vehicle, he said.

"We can't expand what we're doing right now because we want to keep this one going," Saums said.

While a traveling library may seem like an anachronism, Titus said the service is still right in step with Hunterdon County.

"We are a unique county in a sense that we are spread out," he said. From the days of the first bookmobile, Hunterdon "hasn't changed that much, even though the county has grown," he said.

Joe Tyrrell may be reached at jtyrrell@starledger.com or (908) 782-8326.