The Pack Horse Library Initiative



How do you send a bookmobile around to places where there are no roads? In the 1930s, eastern Kentucky was full of tiny towns, coal camps, and isolated homesteads, but very few drivable roads to connect them. There were also few libraries, and they had few books. The Great Depression only made conditions worse. To fight illiteracy and help the small rural schools, the WPA launched a New Deal program called the Pack Horse Library Initiative, to deliver books to the most inaccessible Appalachian hollows by librarians or other "book women" riding horses or mules. These librarians and other volunteers had to supply their own horse, but they were paid a dollar a day, which was more than most people in the area were making at the time. They went above and beyond the call of duty, not only delivering books, but reading aloud and teaching classes. Local libraries and volunteers provided the books, and even made some books to share with people who otherwise wouldn't have any exposure to literature of any kind. -via Nag on the Lake   


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Thanks! Probably not. My recent on-campus bookmobile efforts have taught me the importance of being able to get through classroom doors. So now I just haul conventional bookcarts around from classroom to classroom.
But you're right that I should revisit the idea and maybe find a vehicular structure more mobile than a bookcart.
Congratulations to your daughter on her bookstore. Is it a new or used bookstore?
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So are you still going to do this? I think it's a wonderful idea. I love books as does my family. My daughter just bought a book store and she's the happiest I've seen her in years.
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Before the pandemic, I was kicking around the idea of applying for a grant to create a trike-based bookmobile for on-campus use. It would be a bit more practical than a horse, but only because I have paved pathways everywhere.
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