The Bookmobile
Location(s)
One of the best things ever to drive into my life was the public library bookmobile. I was about eight years old; we lived in the country and, aside from our school library, I was unaware that another collection of books existed.
Neighborhood friends came skipping over one summer day to tell us that the bookmobile was parked in the middle of a cluster of houses behind our property. My mother was a strict don't-leave-the-property type, but miraculously granted permission for me to visit the bookmobile. I had no idea what to expect - I'd never heard of such a thing.
Parked near the Schneider's house was a very large van, almost a converted bus. You entered as if it was a bus, but the inside was magical. Where you would expect seats and windows, there were shelves and shelves and shelves and shelves of books: Big tall books, short fat books, little kid books, grown-up books, more stories than I could have imagined!
The aroma of books (what is that? a combination of paper ink and glue?) was heady as I investigated the possibilities. I don't remember particular titles, but I know that on that day and every two weeks thereafter I checked out the maximum allowable number of books. I learned the art of spending hot summer days in the shade with a good book - an endeavor that I have been perfecting for nearly half a century.
Do bookmobiles still exist? I haven't seen one in deccades, and suppose that the funding problems for all public services has curtailed the use of bookmobiles. But this country girl is ever so thankful that the bookmobile was a part of the 1950s and '60s culture.
- AnneH's Stories
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Comments
Buying books online and going to the library
I love to browse bookstores, too, but I really enjoy online "book places." I think I individually kept Amazon.com in business when they started as a lowly online bookseller. I miss those days before they became the megastore, but I do still go there to snoop in the virtual stacks.
I remember, too, going to the library when I was just a new reader in St. Marys, PA. It was located in this big old house just a few doors down from my grandmother's house on Lafayette Street. It was right behind the movie theater. Oh, and the Proctor House, where all the Girl Scouts met, was just up the block the other way from Gram's house -- she was really in the center of everything! Books, movies, scouts and Gram; what more could any kid want. But I digress . . .
The library. The Eben J. Russ Library in the big old house. I enjoyed wandering around from room to room, fueling my nascent interest in archeology. I always liked to read the check out card in the pocket in the back of the book -- it was fun to see who else had found this book interesting, and I always felt so important adding my name to the card. That card was also a good way to keep track of my own reading; if my name was there, I knew I'd been here before. I do admit, though, that there were many books that had my name on the card several times!
Before I got out of grade school, our library outgrew it's house. A new library was built a couple of blocks away but still within that important "Gram Zone." It was a nice, low modern building (well, for the 1960s anyway), and there was more room. But it was all one big room. I didn't have that same sense of discovery that I had when I moved around the old house. Instead of going room to room, you just went aisle to aisle.
The old library is gone. It was torn down not long after the new one was built. Gram is gone, and so is her house. The Proctor House has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The theatre is still there. And the "new" library is still the town's library.
I love books
There appear to be bookmobile's in the rural areas of the state and across America. I could not find any for the area of Tyrone or Altoona. Both places have a great library. I love bookstores. I love the fact that you can hold, browse, and read a book before purchasing.
My favorite stores are the small family owned stores. These stores seldom have a Book
club card to qualify for sales, they seldom have a huge selection but they do have books on local topics and written by local authors. One of my favorite small book stores is called the The Book Center in historic downtown Cumberland Maryland. It is located on a side street in downtown Cumberland and has a great local/regional general section and history section. The people are friendly, the town is great, and of course there is the aroma of books. Boy I love that smell.
Unfortunately for Altoona nothing like this exists. I do not like The Book Store. Its push for selling pornographic materials as opposed to books makes me avoid the place at all cost. So for now, I shop for books at Barnes & Noble in Altoona.
Clay hardens by immobility – men's minds by standing pat. Both lose the power to take new impressions. (Pinchot 1910: 138)
great
i'm not sure if this is still in existence, but your example is the reason it should be! love that library smell too---they should bottle it like new car smell.