OCR Text |
Show LIBRARIES ON WHEELS If people living in a rural community commun-ity can not come to the library, the library will go to them. This is the spirit that is impelling state and county library authorities to send into rural communities automobile trucks equipped with shelves containing books belonging to the stacks of public pub-lic libraries. Patrons may borrow books from these "libraries on wheels" and either return them by parcel post or keep them until future visits of the trucks. According to the American Library association, the first use of a wagon as a means of carrynig books to people peo-ple in rural districts was made by the Washington county library at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1905; but it was not until the past few years that the plan was used to any considerable con-siderable extent The Delaware state library commission and the public library department of the state department de-partment of education of Vermont use automobiles equipped with bookshelves book-shelves a means of distributing books to people living in rural communities. com-munities. The Iowa library association associa-tion has recently equipped a book truck and started it on a tour of the state for the purpose of demonstrating demonstrat-ing this service. Birmingham, Alabama; Ala-bama; Clarksdale, Miss.; Detroit, Mich.; Durham, North Carolina, Elkhart, Elk-hart, Logansport and Rochester, Ind.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Portland, Ore., are some of the cities that are working work-ing out the problem of county library extension by means of book trucks. The success of the plan depends, largely, upon having a person in charge of the truck who knows books and is interested in children's and adults' reading. He must be able to select books which will appeal to the readers and be enthusiastic for the work he is doing. |