Of the 365,000 residents of Forsyth County, North Carolina, 150,000 of them are registered borrowers of the county’s public library system (Forsyth County, 2015). Last year they checked out 1.8 million books—almost all of which were borrowed from one of the eleven branches that dot the landscape of Forsyth County.
Fifty years ago, much of the population of Forsyth County would not have enjoyed such easy access to libraries. Rural residents, school children, and other borrowers who could not easily access the county’s libraries were served instead by the Forsyth County bookmobile. Interest in bookmobiles in Forsyth County dates to at least the early 1940s. The city of Durham established a book truck in 1923 and adjacent Guildford County did the same in 1927 (Whedbee, 1962). Nearly a decade later, the North Carolina Library Commission toured the state in its own bookmobile to drum up interest among county and regional libraries (Whedbee, 1962). The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted further demonstrations in 1938 in order to showcase how North Carolina libraries might better serve rural borrowers (Whedbee, 1962). Apparently, the WPA bookmobile did not travel to Forsyth County until the spring of 1940; however, public officials were so impressed that they immediately began to draw up plans to establish bookmobile services in their county (Moore, 1961). Unfortunately, the commencement of World War II delayed plans for a Forsyth County bookmobile (Moore, 1961). Eventually Forsyth County purchased a bookmobile in 1949, increasing the library system’s budget by 41% in order to acquire duplicate juvenile and adult titles for the vehicle (Moore, 1961). The bookmobile served both black and white populations, splitting its time between the white main library located in downtown Winston-Salem and the black George Moses Horton Branch Library, which was located inside the Chestnut Street YMCA (Little Known Black Librarian Facts, 2011, December 26; Moore, 1961). In addition, the bookmobile served segregated student populations at all of the county schools (Moore, 1961). The use of bookmobiles began to decline as library systems began to invest more in physical buildings, especially in North Carolina (Smith, 2007). Whereas the Forsyth County bookmobile previously served residents of Walkertown and Lewisville, the construction of physical branches in those communities and others led the county to discontinue its general service bookmobile circuit in 1992 (Mitchell, 2012, December 12). As libraries look to the future, bookmobile services are "waning" and those that remain often serve only children (Mitchell, 2012, December 12). Hence, Forsyth County still operates two bookmobiles that circulate among educational facilities and Hispanic children's communities. In spite of the value of bookmobiles to Forsyth County for the past 65 years, one cannot help but wonder whether bookmobiles will still exist after the passage of the another 65 years. |
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References
Forsyth County. (2015). Library statistics. Retrieved from http://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/library/statistics.aspx
Little Known Librarian Facts. (2011, December 26). George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) [Blog]. Retrieved from http://littleknownblacklibrarianfacts.blogspot.com/2011/12/george-moses-horton-branch-of- forsyth.html
Mitchell, M. (2012, December 12). Bookmobile service waning in northwest North Carolina. Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved from
http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/bookmobile-service-waning-in-northwest-north-carolina/article_56442e98-717a-5b43-b61a-fd4db0875481.html
Moore, B. L. (1961). A history of public library service to negroes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1927-1951 (unpublished master’s thesis). Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA.
Smith, E. H. (2007). Retrospection: The first hundred years of North Carolina’s libraries, 1961-1975. North Carolina Libraries, 65(2), 58-61.
Whedbee, M. M. (1962). A history of the development and expansion of bookmobile service in North Carolina, 1923-1960 (unpublished master’s thesis). University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
Forsyth County. (2015). Library statistics. Retrieved from http://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/library/statistics.aspx
Little Known Librarian Facts. (2011, December 26). George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) [Blog]. Retrieved from http://littleknownblacklibrarianfacts.blogspot.com/2011/12/george-moses-horton-branch-of- forsyth.html
Mitchell, M. (2012, December 12). Bookmobile service waning in northwest North Carolina. Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved from
http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/bookmobile-service-waning-in-northwest-north-carolina/article_56442e98-717a-5b43-b61a-fd4db0875481.html
Moore, B. L. (1961). A history of public library service to negroes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1927-1951 (unpublished master’s thesis). Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA.
Smith, E. H. (2007). Retrospection: The first hundred years of North Carolina’s libraries, 1961-1975. North Carolina Libraries, 65(2), 58-61.
Whedbee, M. M. (1962). A history of the development and expansion of bookmobile service in North Carolina, 1923-1960 (unpublished master’s thesis). University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.