On Monday, November 18, 1940, Worcester Public Library celebrated the launch of a new service: our first official bookmobile that roamed the streets of Worcester! As we celebrate the 85th anniversary of that historic launch, here is more history of the Worcester Public Library bookmobile from 1954 to 1991. You can read our previous post about the first bookmobile here: The Early Years of the WPL Bookmobile. We will discuss the newest bookmobiles in a later blog post.
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| Undated Photo at a Bookmobile Stop |
Tuesday, April 20, 1954 was the end of an era in the world of Worcester Public Library. On that day, library staff formed a bucket brigade to transfer the books from the original bookmobile to the new bookmobile that was built by Shrewsbury's Thomas F. Moroney Co. Inc. Below are a couple of images from "moving day." A day later, more than five hundred people visited the bookmobile on display at City Hall and the new bookmobile would officially start its service that Thursday, with a weekly schedule of 23 stops from Monday to Friday.
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| Library's New Bookmobile, Worcester Telegram, April 9, 1954 |
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| Moving Day, April 1954 |
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| Pages on Moving Day, April 1954 |
In August 1954, the library temporarily curtailed bookmobile service to the school stops, citing a shortage of trained library personnel. Taylor blamed the shortage on not being able to attract trained librarians to work at the library because the salary was below the national average. Additionally, the Curtis Apartments stop was temporarily stopped in September but was able to resume in December. School stops were back on the schedule in mid-January 1955. Further disruptions of the schedule would occur throughout the years, due to staffing, many repairs, or holidays.
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| Undated Photo of the Bookmobile in Front of WPL on Elm Street |
Alfred C. Cote retired from the position of bookmobile driver in October 1959. He had started working part-time at the library in 1929 and began driving the bookmobile in 1940. He was a regular bookmobile driver until 1959, aside from his 3-year stint in the military during World War II. Incidentally, Cote was shot multiple times in a failed holdup in 1964 while working as a cashier at Spag's in Shrewsbury. He survived the shooting and died in 1995.
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| Bookmobile Driver Retires, Worcester Evening Gazette, October 30, 1959 |
The library frequently received requests to add additional stops to their bookmobile routes. However, a library board report in 1961 indicated that the bookmobile could not take on any new stops at this time without eliminating one of the current stops. The report also indicated that the library would require additional funding for personnel and a second bookmobile if they wanted to add additional stops without cutting service.
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| Front desk Betty and Ann Louise, undated |
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| Patrons at Brittan Square, 1963 |
Now, life on the bookmobile wasn't always smooth sailing. The year 1967 was especially rough in terms of patron misbehavior. There were several instances of vandalism and harassment of the bookmobile, its staff, and its other patrons by a group of teenagers at Great Brook Valley in January 1967 and by a separate group of teenagers at Thorndike Road in the Burncoat neighborhood in September of the same year.
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| Headline for the article about the Thorndike Road incident, Worcester Evening Gazette, September 20, 1967 |
The Third Bookmobile
The city purchased a new replacement bookmobile, which went into service September 1968. Thomas F. Moroney Co. Inc. built this new 33-foot bookmobile with improved HVAC systems and a blue exterior. One new feature for the bookmobile was that it would be powered by a battery that could be charged at the Main Library, instead of having to be plugged in at each bookmobile stop.
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| Sunday Telegram, August 24, 1969 |
In June 1969, the library acquired a new $700 viewer that would allow short films to be shown outside the bookmobile at various evening stops (see below image for the film listings for July 28, 1969). The trial program was intended to increase interest in the bookmobile service. The bookmobile later participated in the library's "Flick Fun Outdoors" program at the end of August 1969, wherein the library showed feature-length movies in a couple of city parks and apartment buildings.
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| In Town Today, Worcester Telegram, July 28, 1969 |
Throughout the years, the bookmobile's schedule would change from five days a week to six days a week and back to five days a week. For instance, during the summer of 1971, the bookmobile had a schedule of 35 stops per week Monday - Friday, with a mix of schools, shopping plazas, parks, apartment complexes, and street corners. During the gas shortages of 1974, the library announced that the bookmobile would temporarily eliminate some of its stops and reduce the number of hours it spent on the road (Worcester Telegram, March 30, 1974). A similar situation would happen in February 1975, where the bookmobile would go to 31 stops but operate only 15 1/2 hours (the stops would be 30-45 minutes long). The bookmobile would be able to expand its service in July 1975 after the library received increased fuel allotments.
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| Undated photo of WPL's 3rd bookmobile |
The year 1976 brought forth budget cuts to the City of Worcester. The library faced the possibility of ending the bookmobile service, laying off some staff, shuttering some of the branches, and ending Sunday hours at the Main Library. After much wrangling of the budget and back and forth between Head Librarian Joseph S. Hopkins and the City Council, the City Council only cut the budget by $100,000 and the library was able to keep the bookmobile operating on a normal schedule.
The bookmobile was off the road for two weeks after the Blizzard of '78 due to a lack of available parking space. Meanwhile, we think someone had a grand old time writing the below headline from June 1978 when the bookmobile was off the road due to brake repairs. As the bookmobile aged, it continued to need to be off the road periodically for further repairs.
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| Bookmobile Brakes Down, Worcester Evening Gazette, June 14, 1978 |
The bookmobile gained and ended certain stops over the years. For instance, it stopped going to the Great Brook Valley neighborhood in 1981 when the new Great Brook Valley branch opened. A new stop was added to replace the Main South Branch in the same year when that branch lost its lease.
Senior Stop, Kids' Stop, and Books Are Our Business
Proposition 2 1/2 budget cuts dealt a severe blow to the bookmobile service and the rest of the Worcester Public Library. In 1982, the cuts forced the bookmobile to cease operation. Of course, even though the official bookmobile stopped, the library still had a van stopping at various places that catered to the city's older adult population to pick up and drop off books. At these "Senior Stops," the library staff would lay out the books "on tables in the buildings and patrons [would] check out books" (Staff Newsletter, July 1982).
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| Senior Stop Van, Your Worcester Public Library, May 1984 |
In October 1987, a new bookmobile funded by a federal grant in the amount of $54,595 and the Doctor John Green Trust began to serve the community. It was named Kids' Stop and it catered to the young children in daycares, preschools, and the neighborhood stops. Young children in the Worcester community had been without access to a regular bookmobile since the 1982 budget cuts.
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| Kids' Stop, WPL Staff Newsletter, October 1987 |
Additional Proposition 2 1/2 budget cuts shuttered all seven Worcester Public Library branches in May 1990. Without additional funding, bookmobile delivery of materials would be forced to end on June 1, 1990, while pickups would be able to continue through June. Fortunately, the City Council restored funding for the bookmobile and the library was able to continue the bookmobile service for another year. The library was able to make up for the closing of the branches by adding adult books to the Kids' Stop vehicle. In fact, in late 1990, the library was able to lease a small bookmobile from the Morse Institute Library of Natick (budget constraints in Natick had forced their own bookmobile out of service), bringing the total number of library vehicles on the road to three! This fourth official bookmobile was themed "Books Are Our Business," and its use allowed the library remove the adult books from the Kids' Stop vehicle so it could focus only on children. The Books Are Our Business bookmobile catered to a wider audience.
Alas, the end of the road came for the bookmobile with the Fiscal Year 1992 budget and the voters' rejection of the Proposition 2 1/2 override in June 1991. While an increased budget for the following year allowed for the reopening of the now-named Frances Perkins Branch Library in September 1992, it was not enough to resume bookmobile operations as well.
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| The End for City Bookmobile, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, May 24, 1991 |
It would be another two decades before any official bookmobile service would resume in the City of Worcester. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog post on the revival of the Worcester Public Library bookmobile in 2012!
P.S. The Central Massachusetts Regional Library System had its headquarters at Worcester Public Library and had a separate regional bookmobile that served the member libraries in Central Massachusetts starting in 1967 (the system launched a replacement bookmobile in 1975 called "The Questing Beast," which we thought was super cool! It even had a dragon painted on its exterior).
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| Dragon Wagon, Worcester Evening Gazette, October 11, 1975 |
Sources:
"Area Libraries to Use Grants." (1986, July 21). Worcester Telegram, p. 3.
Bibbo, W.A. (1969, August 24). "Riding the Readers' Route." Worcester Sunday Telegram - Feature Parade Magazine, p. 3.
"Bookmobile Brakes Down." (1978, June 14). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 26.
"The Bookmobile Curtailed." (1954, August 27). Worcester Telegram, p. 6.
"Bookmobile Driver Retires." (1959, October 30). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 21.
"Bookmobile Lists Shorter Schedule." (1975, February 1). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 7.
"Bookmobile to Resume Curtis Stop." (1954, December 11). Worcester Telegram, p. 5.
"Bookmobile Schedule." (1955, January 17). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 15.
"Bookmobile to Show Films by Means of Special Viewer." (1969, June 11). Worcester Telegram, p. 22.
"Bookmobile to Start Expanded Service." (1975, June 19). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 23.
"Cashier is Shot in Holdup Try at Spag's Store." (1964, June 6). Worcester Telegram, p. 1.
Collier, G.A. (1990, May 8). "Branch Libraries Near Last Page." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, p. 3.
Connolly, T.J. (1991, May 24). "The End for City Bookmobile." Worcester Telegram & Gazette, p. A3.
Cope, J.S. (1990, June 24). "Trying Times for Area's Libraries." Worcester Sunday Telegram, p. A1.
"Dragon Wagon." (1975, October 11). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 7.
"500 Visit Bookmobile at City Hall." (1954, April 22). Worcester Telegram, p. 7.
"465 City Positions Face Elimination." (1982, July 14). Worcester Telegram, p. 3A.
"'Gas' Shortage Cuts Bookmobile Service." (1974, March 30). Worcester Telegram, p. 13.
Hammel, L. (1981, May 13). "Main South Library to Close May 23." Worcester Telegram, p. 13.
"In Town Today." (1969, July 28). Worcester Telegram, p. 10.
"Library to Curtail Bookmobile Service." (1954, August 25). Worcester Telegram, p. 1.
"Library's New Bookmobile." (1954, April 9). Worcester Telegram, p. 2.
"Load Books in New Vehicle." (1954, April 20). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 35.
"More Bookmobile Stops Held Impossible Unless Second Vehicle is Acquired." (1961, December 20). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 21.
"Public Library Ends Summer Film Program." (1969, August 30). Worcester Telegram, p. 13.
"Storm's Over: Bookmobile is Back." (1978, February 22). Worcester Evening Gazette, p. 23.
Unsino, S.C. (1966, August 10). "Mobile Library Dispenses Goodwill Along with Books." Worcester Telegram, p. 18.
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