Bookmobile brings reading on the road
The Butler County Traveling Library started the summer of 1970 with a brand new bookmobile that could store about 500 more books than the previous vehicle.
While the new bookmobile cost more than $16,000, the traveling library was able to buy the vehicle without going into debt, thanks to a special reserve fund that had been accumulating money since 1957, when the library purchased its previous bookmobile. Additionally, the traveling library received some state funding and donations to pay for upgrades.
According to Alice Foust, head librarian of the traveling library, the interior of the van was higher, wider and longer than the previous van, and the engine was stored under the front of the van, allotting more space for books. The vehicle could have come with air conditioning, but Foust said she didn’t think it was necessary, because the van would have its windows open much of the time.
The Butler County Traveling Library was formulated in 1928 by the Butler County Federation of Women’s Clubs, which sought to establish a mobile library for homebound pupils.
