50 Years of Bookmobile Service!

By Hilery Walker, Community Relations Coordinator

August 9, 2006

A library that comes to you?  What a novel thought!  Novel, at least, in 1905, when librarian Mary Titcomb began visiting her rural Maryland patrons with a wagon full of books and introduced the concept of a mobile library.  Natrona County Public Library’s first bookmobile hit the streets in 1956, and now, 50 years later, this service is still going strong. 

A form of mobile library service independent of the main NCPL branch began in Natrona County in 1921.  Known as the Midwest Traveling Library, this rudimentary method of sharing books was established by the Midwest Oil Company in the Salt Creek Field.  Initially there were 7 cases, each of which held 50 books and were passed among the groups of workers.  This service ceased after the Edgerton-Midwest Library was established. 

About 25 years later, NCPL joined with NCSD #1 to start bookmobile service in the Casper area.  This joint effort was an attempt to encourage students to continue reading during the summer and is also the origin of the summer reading program, which was known as the Bookworm Program.   The inaugural bookmobile was an old paneled grocery truck known as the “milk truck” and carried 2,000 books.  Service was suspended after 2 years, however, when the school district decided to bus students to NCPL instead. 

In 1969, interest in the bookmobile resurfaced when funding to purchase a new mobile library was secured through a bond issue.  The second bookmobile, dubbed the “Reading Roustabout,” was a converted bus and also held about 2,000 books.  After 10 years of service, the Roustabout was replaced by “Big Blue” in 1982.  Purchased with One-Cent funds, this was NCPL’s first bookmobile built specifically to carry books and it served our community for over 20 years.

In 2004, NCPL welcomed its 4th bookmobile.  Funded through One-Cent #12 and the Friends of the Library, the current vehicle holds 4,000 items, has air conditioning and a TV, and navigates neighborhoods, highways and even dirt roads with ease.  It serves a variety of areas around Casper and Natrona County including neighborhoods, daycares, schools and assisted living facilities, as well as rural communities like Powder River and Red Creek School.    

Natrona County’s mobile libraries have come a long way since the roving boxes of books in Midwest and NCPL’s converted grocery truck, and it is time to celebrate.  During the next two weeks, drop by the bookmobile for a great birthday bash.  In addition to a wide selection of books, movies, audiobooks and CDs available for check out, patrons with an artistic flair are invited to enter the bookmobile coloring contest.  For those of you with fond memories of the bookmobile – old or new – we encourage you to share those memories by entering our essay contest.  Winners of both contests will receive bookmobile book bags. 

No matter the method of transportation, the original concept of a mobile library bringing books to patrons remains the same, and NCPL looks forward to continuing bookmobile service throughout Natrona County for another 50 years.  For more information on the bookmobile, including scheduled stops, please call 237-4935 or visit www.natronacountylibrary.org.

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