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THE LAST STOP OF THE BOOKMOBILE
One of my earliest memories is of going to the Monterey Library and of Mr. Abercrombie recommending books for me to read. One of my favorite authors was Stephen Meader, who wrote historical fiction full of adventure for young people. The Monterey Library had several of his books, but there were so many more. Mr. Abercrombie promised me that when the bookmobile came he would be sure to choose any books by Stephen Meader so that I could read them. The wait for the bookmobile was often rewarded by not only books by Meader, but whole shelves of books by authors I had never heard of! I never felt I had read everything in the Monterey Library, but there were times I would wish for something new. Periodically the bookmobile would come on Tuesday mornings
when the library was open and I was stuck at school. Then one day the bookmobile came when I had summer vacation and I remember being in awe as I was invited by Barbara Morey and Tom Mooney, who began with the bookmobile in the 1950’s, to look around. I climbed the steps with reverence as I entered the sacred space. A whole library that came to Monterey for me, and for many others. By that time the Monterey stops had been cut down to just Gould Farm and the library, but in previous years it had stopped at schools, and even private residences. I remember when budget cuts and other issues meant that it could no longer stop at Gould Farm, but we could help out Loul and the others by sharing with them at the library.
The assault on the bookmobile had just begun. Over the years there were many changes—two staff positions, driver and librarian, consolidated to one, who did not even have to be a librarian. The bookmobile which had been based in Pittsfield at the Berkshire Athenaeum was moved to the Pioneer Valley. It came less often, but there were more books, including ones that had the PV designation that meant they would not have been available from Pittsfield. We needed to provide someone to carry the books to return out to the truck, and after they were checked in we had to carry the newly chosen ones to the library, where some people would literally be waiting for new materials. The decision by the bookmobile not to carry adult non-fiction hurt as I especially loved to
browse those titles. There were also happier changes, and I can clearly remember the first day the bookmobile came to town with videotapes! Audio books also became an important part of the borrowed collection as the Monterey Library could simply not afford to buy these new types of media. Bookmobile visits were the perfect chance to catch up on what was happening at WMRLS and around the area in other libraries. The bookmobile staff was always willing to come in and look at our library and offer suggestions and advice. Tom came in and took a picture of the candle that had melted so that it resembled an upside down “u” from when the thermostat malfunctioned as he told stories about Mr. Abercrombie. Of course over the years many of our patrons would come and drop in during the bookmobile stop and select things that interested them—Loul Mcintosh, Sherry Colodny, and Anita Worth spent many hours browsing and finding
things like scientific books, Civil War anything for Jim, and large print books for an elderly mother. Barbara and Tom, and many of the drivers since, always remembered what types of books our patrons wanted, and for as long as they could read, Shel Fenn got his daily historical fiction book and Bea Fenn had mysteries by the armload.
There are many volunteers over the years who carried books, from an age where they could barely walk and hold one book to the other end of life, where it was too physically taxing, but that wondrous transfer of the written word was always accomplished with a smile. I often envied the drivers who had the job of bringing such happiness to every corner of this part of the world, and the stories of skidding in snowstorms and mechanical failures brought to mind the motto of the Post Office.
It has been years since the bookmobile has had a budget to buy new books. The Friends of Western Massachusetts Regional Library System was formed in 2003 to help out after some particularly devastating cuts to the library budget, and the first dollars raised bought new materials. Some of you in Monterey participated in the “buy a book to remember a loved one or in place of a gift” program which raised thousands of dollars and made books available to children in our rural area. Last spring the budget was so tight it appeared that the March visit to Monterey was going to be the last ever, but the wizards at WMRLS waved their wands and filled the gas tank for another six months.
At this point in time, WMRLS, which runs the bookmobile program, is being funded at the level they last saw over ten years ago. The budget outlook is so bleak that WMRLS and the other five regions will in all likelihood be dissolved next July. As the Governor and the Legislature work on the budget over the next six months it will become more clear as to which library services funded by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners will be cut, which ones will be kept at a reduced funding level, and which ones will be saved. Unfortunately the bookmobile has become the first casualty. As of December 30th the last bookmobile in the state of Massachusetts will be parked one final time. The last visit to Monterey will be December 15th from 12 noon until 2PM. Please feel free to come by and carry a book in or just stop to look at one of the last direct survivors of the original programs of FDR’s Works Progress Administration. The first bookmobile in Massachusetts started in
Pittsfield in the 1940’s, and the last one will travel the roads of western Massachusetts almost seventy years later. One of the drivers has said each last stop has been a strange mixture of a wake and a celebration.
Even with joining CWMARS, libraries such as ours will not have big enough budgets to provide browsing collections of audio books and large print titles. WMRLS has committed to lending deposit collections to us for as long as they exist, which may only be another six months. Those books will be delivered by WMRLS vans that come to Monterey twice a week. The Friends of WMRLS, with $13,000 in privately raised money, recently bought a used van and outfitted it for delivery to replace one of the current vans which had over three quarter of a million miles. Delivery without WMRLS is bound to change, but it appears that because even the larger libraries have come to depend on inter-library loans, some sort of delivery service will continue.
I have no idea what my children will remember as magical about their childhood, but I hope they will have something that does for them what the memories of the bookmobile do for me.
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