State

Volume XI Number 8 July 24 1943 THE STATE A Weekly Survey of North Carolina Eettr*4 •• »*<ев4«им ■№«, Job* 1. 1933. at tba PoitoSca at RaUt«k. Nertb Carelina. mnd.r t ha Act »t Ыагск 3. It T9. The Traveling Library Here’s a typical group of people, exchanging books upon the arrival of the bookmobile. Many I housanilN of North Carolinians, who never liad access to books bt'fore. are nou being provided regular¬ ly with the best of read¬ ing matter. - «•/ - HARRY Ж. TUCKER SEVERAL yours ago librarians learned that the people of rural North Carolina "'ere so eager for something to read they would walk miles to meet a bookmobile. Over rough roads and through dark forests, men and women ami children continue to meet the traveling library. People along the routes watch eagerly for the “Bookwomen," who bring not only new books to isolate.! areas, but life and stimulation. Both kind and in¬ terested, these women are ever alert to open up channels of light to be¬ nighted souls. Aroused by the fact that thousands of North Carolinians wore without free library service, and that at least half of the number lived in the coun¬ try, the popple of the state grew rest¬ less. From the shoreline of ancient Albemarle to the Tennessee border, there was я stirring for action by in¬ terested groups in the one hundred counties that make up North Caro¬ lina. Important Cutura! Factor "Great libraries are both the fruits and the roots of great civilizations,” Frank P. Graham declared at a citi¬ zen's library conference held at the University of North Carolina, where¬ upon it was decided that, inasmuch as many local governments seemed un¬ able to maintain public libraries it was "reasonable to look to each county to organize, administer, ami support a library service.” Concerned about the countless thousands of citizens who lived miles from an established library, cultured people asked how books could be gotten to these bookless people. The answer was the bookmobile. It was in 1030 that the Rocking¬ ham County Library was founded at Leaksville by the late Mrs. B. Frank Mebane, assisted by a half dozen in¬ terested citizens, including a lawyer, a grocer, and a housewife. These few people decided that Rockingham County should have a library; that the people were starving for reading matter, even though many of them were unaware of it. Under circumstances about as un¬ promising as people anywhere would have to face, the few zealous citizens started work. Suffice it to say, the library was established in short, time, and was maintained by the Business and Professional Women's Club, until taken over by the county in 10:1-4. Start of the Bookmobile It was only a short time before the trustees of the Rockingham County Library realized that so many people lived long distances from the library, who were avid for rending matter, that some method should he employed to get the books to the people. Branch libraries, deposit stations, and mobile book vans seemed to be the answer, ( Continued on page sixteen) THE COVER PICTURE Cherokee Indian in tribal costume. On special occasions, some of the Indians on the Cherokee reservation still at¬ tire themselves in the same ap¬ parel as was worn by their an¬ cestors long, long ago. t