JOHNSTON COUNTY - Eager to show off their drawings, 7-year-old Masada Staley and her sister, Hadassah, ran out to meet the Bookmobile when it pulled up to their house.

Bookmobile manager Yeedah Krasowski posted their book-jacket designs of Cinderella and Snow White above the driver's seat before giving them the next assignment in the library's summer reading program.

The Staley sisters and their two siblings, who live west of Smithfield, look forward to the Bookmobile's monthly visit, and the librarians are ready to suggest books and provide activities. Their mother, Trenesi Staley, said it's hard to take all four kids from their home to the library.

"Especially in the wintertime, we don't get out a lot," Staley said, adding that her kids form bonds with the librarians and work hard to finish reading their books by Bookmobile day. "It's a good reading incentive."

But the future of the county's Bookmobile is murky. The vehicle is almost 20 years old, and it has required thousands of dollars in repairs over the past several years.

"I can't say for how long it'll keep going," Krasowski said. The generator had to be replaced a few years ago, and several weeks ago, the engine wouldn't start.

Margaret Marshall, director of the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield, said the library can't afford to buy a new Bookmobile. The program might end, she said, if the vehicle's condition gets worse.

"We're taking it one day at a time," Marshall said. "The Bookmobile will continue to keep on the road as long as it can."

If the library has to park the Bookmobile, a scaled-back outreach program would take its place, Marshall said. Libraries would deliver requested books to people with no other way to reach the library, but they wouldn't be able to browse a collection.

Like most government agencies, the library system and the Bookmobile are already coping with budget cuts. The Bookmobile almost lost its budget for buying new books, but ultimately managed to get half of last year's funding.

"That was really disheartening," Krasowski said, noting that less funding means harder choices on which books to buy.

She has to balance the tastes of her patrons, who range from children to seniors to Spanish-speaking immigrants. "You have to choose who I am going to focus on this week," she said. "I try to really be fair."

Bookmobile fans have rallied in support of the program. One woman wrote to state Sen. David Rouzer, who expressed his support for the library on wheels.

The Bookmobile has about 500 registered patrons, and it carries more than 2,000 books, audiobooks and DVDs to all areas of the county, Krasowski said.

The stops include the homes of families like the Staleys, nursing homes, day-care centers and schools with small libraries. Only those who have difficulty visiting a library can have a stop at their residence, but anyone can visit the Bookmobile at existing stops.