Looks Like An Old-Fashioned Truck, But These Striking Images Reveal Its True Importance

According to PBS, there were as many as 60 bookmobiles in operation. These bookmobiles primarily served impoverished communities, as it was thought that bookmobiles were an effective way to encourage literacy in poor areas.

 

The progress of the bookmobile was hindered during the 1930s and 1940s, according to PBS, but the 1950s saw a boom in bookmobiles. In 1956, the U.S. government enacted legislation to expand bookmobile services to ensure that tens of millions of people in rural areas had access to free books.

Bookmobile programs were cut in some areas in the 1970s and 1980s due to high fuel prices. Bookmobiles didn’t fare any better from 1990 to 2003 when PBS estimated that there was a 20-percent decline in bookmobile services. Currently, according to American Libraries Magazine, there are about 900 bookmobiles in operation. These bookmobiles try to keep up with modern tastes and trends offering a variety of media such as DVDs, free Internet, video games and mobile classes for the community.