Posted on: Friday, April 15, 2005

EDITORIAL
Bookmobiles brought us a whole new world

In this fast-paced world with high-speed Internet access giving us information on the fly and television and video games bombarding us, it is refreshing to note the 100th anniversary of bookmobiles in the United States — and that bookmobiles are still around.

A century ago, librarian Mary Titcomb put shelves on a horse-drawn buggy and brought the joy of reading and books to the rural reaches of Maryland.

Throughout the 20th century, and now into the 21st, bookmobiles have changed as transportation and technology have changed.

But the mission has stayed the same throughout. There is still something magical about bringing books — and the worlds they open up — to people who would otherwise have little access to literature.

In Hawai'i, this mission became a victim of budget cuts two years ago.

But there's hope. Moloka'i has a small bookmobile that still operates, and the state library system is actively working on a plan to resume the Wailuku, Maui, bookmobile service.

If you love reading, try to imagine a world in which children have not learned the joy of losing themselves in grand adventures, traveled via the written page to far-flung lands and are not exposed to good writing. That's a bleak world.

We know that the library system needs to balance needs and priorities. But those priorities must also take into account the people who rely on this service as their main link to the world of reading.