Do you remember the Bookmobile at Meekins? Were you at the Helen E. James School and the Anne T. Dunphy school from 2002 to 2003 when the library was being renovated and the special bright red truck parked under the big tree was your very own school library full of books for the students?
Gone, but not forgotten, bookmobiles were a lifeline for small Western Massachusetts libraries for decades. It was an occasion every month when the big boxy Western Massachusetts Regional Library System truck with 12,000 books drove up to the original granite Meekins front steps to welcome the librarians on board to pick out books they just knew their library readers would want. First Meekins would return the armloads of books from the bookmobile’s previous visit to be checked in while the librarians made their new selections. Next, the driver would check out the chosen 200 plus books to the Meekins every time. Then, the librarians were on hand to carry the piles of books up the steps into the Meekins.
Bookmobiles began making the rounds of small libraries in 1962 when the Western Regional Public Library System, (later the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System) was formed to provide services to local libraries. The bookmobile made its historic last rounds in 2010, ending its long history of “books on wheels.” Are you part of the generations that remember bookmobiles? Daria D’Arienzo, Meekins Archivist. #throwbackthursday; #tbt.
Posted to Facebook 4/6/2023
