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At the beginning of the twentieth century,
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Washington County, Maryland, contained a
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growing town but also many farms and small
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settlements. The county library could
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serve people who lived near its building,
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yet a trip into town cost rural families
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time and money. A central collection was
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useful only if readers could reach it.
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Mary Lemist Titcomb, the library's head,
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tried several ways of carrying books
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outward. At first, boxes of books were
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left at stores, schools, and post offices.
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These stations brought reading material
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closer to many families, but each box
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offered a limited selection. By 1904 the
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library was supplying sixty-six such
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deposit stations, each holding perhaps
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thirty volumes exchanged two or three
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times a year, so a keeper's shelf could
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stand unchanged through a whole winter
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while the main building lent from thirteen
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thousand titles. Titcomb wanted readers to
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be able to browse and choose, much as
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visitors to the main library did.
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In 1905, the library sent out a
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horse-drawn book wagon. Shelves lined the
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wagon, and space beneath them held
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additional volumes. The driver traveled
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established routes and stopped at homes
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along the way. Residents could return
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books, ask for particular subjects, and
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look over unfamiliar titles. The wagon did
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more than deliver parcels that librarians
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had selected in advance; it carried a
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small, changeable library to the reader's
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door.
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The service required practical
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adjustments. Roads turned muddy, winter
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weather slowed travel, and books had to be
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arranged so they would not tumble as the
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wagon moved. Librarians also learned what
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different communities requested. A farming
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family might seek information about crops,
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while children wanted stories and school
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materials. The route became a way for the
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library to listen as well as lend.
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The original wagon served for several
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years before an accident ended its
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travels. A freight train struck it at a
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grade crossing in 1910; the team was
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unhurt and the books were gathered from
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the roadbed, but the body was beyond
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repair, and the library went without a
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mobile service for two years. Later
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vehicles continued the idea with engines
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instead of horses. Bookmobiles eventually
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appeared in many parts of the country, but
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their importance was not simply
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mechanical. They reflected a change in how
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a public institution understood its work.
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Rather than waiting for every reader to
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cross the library's threshold, the library
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accepted responsibility for crossing part
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of the distance itself.
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The wagon could not offer every book in
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the main collection, and it did not erase
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the challenges of rural travel. Its
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achievement was more modest and more
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practical: it turned access from an
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invitation into a route.