These North Carolina Library Commission traveling libraries, packed in sturdy wooden
cases, were photographed in 1915 while en route to the Raleigh train station for shipment
throughout the state.
ferent "subjects in the debate libraries. In 1915 the commission
also developed study club libraries for use in areas where there
were no libraries. By the end of World War I the commission had
available for distribution 2,166 collections of material on in-dividual
subjects. 41
In making up the traveling libraries, at least one third of the
books were made up of fiction, one third were books for children,
and the remaining volumes were the best and most popular books
of nonfiction. Among the latter were one book on agriculture or
country life, one dealing with domestic science or household
sanitation, and one that would be helpful in planning and carrying
out entertainments or a simple program for a social evening. The
traveling libraries were lent to any organized body that would
assume responsibility for their care. World War I adversely af-fected
the traveling library system because books could not be
shipped into North Carolina by rail, and some libraries took as
long as three months to reach their destination. Despite this dif-ficulty,
traveling libraries were sent to 178 different places in
seventy counties of the state in 1918. Library service to rural coun-
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