May9

india, take the wheel!

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Wake County Bookmobile driver and librarian India White, July 1966.

White drove the Bookmobile all over the county for over 20 years. Her route changed daily but rotated monthly, visiting mostly rural locations in the county and homes of the elderly or disabled. She had dozens of assistants over the years, many either not able to learn the routes or drive a manual transmission (one of the crucial prerequisites for the job). A life-long resident of Raleigh, she devoted her entire career to the Wake County Library. White died in 2000 at the age of 92.

—

“literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. it is a tool for daily life in modern society.

it is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development.

for everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right..

literacy is finally, the road to human progress

and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”

-kofi annan

 

 

 

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credits: vintage america uncovered, state archives of north carolina, news and observer

50 responses »

  7. Cheers to the dedicated service of that North Carolina longtime library champion, who brought the world of books to those who otherwise would have been without free volumes to check out where they lived, Beth! RIP, great driver India. I remember bookmobiles pulling up to suburban streets when I was growing up on Long Island on so many years ago, but I didn’t give much thought to what it took to steer those biggies to those spots because my mind was fixated on what volumes might be different than the last time the bookmobile visited.

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  8. We got our books from a bookmobile when I was young. I don’t know who the driver was though and after reading this I regret that we were more interested in finding the books we wanted than getting to know the driver. I wonder now if we had one dedicated driver like your India, or if it was someone different each week. And now, when it would be nice to remember him (I do remember that it was a man) I draw a blank. A greatly regretted missed opportunity. But my thanks to bookmobile drivers everywhere. You brought wonderful books to us out in the country, where new books were hard to find. Thanks, Beth.

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  10. A wonderfully heartwarming story Beth …
    “A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.” … Nelson Mandela

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  19. such a necessary post! just listened to John Oliver’s rant on the closure of libraries all over the US…. I so feel with you guys – I cannot even begin to see ANY reason for this. Literacy IS a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.

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