Dr. Melony Shemberger, assistant professor, has presented and published in 2016 about the history of bookmobiles.
In March, Shemberger presented her work, titled “Early Calloway County Connections Between WPA Road Projects and the Bookmobile,” at the WPA Symposium held March 11 on campus.
In summer 2016, her article by the same title was published in the Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society.
Shemberger adapted the article for a campus presentation at the History Research Forum on Oct. 27. The title was “Driving Literacy: The Bookmobile as an American Cultural Icon.”
Here is an abstract of her work: In the late 1930s, the Works Progress Administration opened an office in Murray to concentrate on the construction of county roads and city streets, along with other regional projects.
In east Kentucky, the WPA helped to fund the Pack Horse Library Project, which employed women to deliver books and other reading material to remote mountain schools and residences. This effort launched a greater interest in the concept of bookmobiles.
The bookmobile was one of the social changes that brought benefits of townspeople to rural folks, although rural school and church libraries were evident before Calloway County’s bookmobile started in 1948. Still, this brought more opportunities to young county residents and expanded adult education.
Her paper discussed the development of the Calloway County bookmobile, exploring how the new roads funded under the WPA aided in the early popularity of the bookmobile in the county.
