The times were changing for readers after World War II and Cecil County kept up as it organized a county library system. The first step was to hire a professional librarian, Ruth Miller, and she made the establishment of a “library on wheels” a priority. Filled with shelves, the bookmobile started rolling down the road in 1947 as it carried books to stations scattered across the rural area. Miss Miller, brought years of experience in organizing systems, coming here from the newly established Mohawk College Library at Utica, NY. Before that she organized a public library at Hamtramck, Mich. where she served the city as its librarian for 10 years. In the second half of 1947, the bookmobile, “painted a robin egg blue, with navy blue lettering on all four side in bold type” became a familiar and welcome sight on the roads and highway of Cecil County as it transported 800 volumes of valued reading material to “stations” in villages and wide spots in the road. In a time when literature and reading material were scare and many lived far away from the local reading room, it was a welcome sight when the mobile library arrived with fresh material for a weekly visit in places that stretch from Oakwood to Warwick. As the librarian worked to provide Cecil County with a first-class institution, she reported that by Oct. 1 5,000 new books would be ready for circulation, in addition to the old books already in the library.
In the early seventies, Sally Teague was the bookmobile librarian. She knew what her patrons liked to read and she would raid the shelves for new material. Her bookmobile patrons often got to read the “new releases” before walk-in library patrons because she would take the books from the display while Mrs. Kreer, the front desk librarian, wasn’t looking.
Thanks for sharing those memories Paula. What years did you work at the library?