In Honor Of Today's Bookmobile Celebration: History, Photos, and Fun Facts

This , Pescadero Elementary School will host a celebration debuting the to serve unincorporated San Mateo County's Coastside (from Montara to Pescadero). In honor of today's event, Half Moon Bay Patch has compiled some history and photos about the first bookmobile in the U.S., as well as interesting information about bookmobiles around the world.

With solar panels, a hybrid generator, and the ability to run on biodiesel, our new bookmobile represents the latest iteration of a long line that has evolved over the last 150 years. According to Western Maryland's Historical Library, 1858 was when the first "perambulating library" was created in Warrington, England.

On its website, the Historical Library writes that the wagon was the brainchild of Mary Titcomb, who devised the library on wheels as a way to distribute books throughout the county. The library's website also includes Titcomb's own description of the wagon in The Story of the Washington County Free Library: "The first wagon, when finished with shelves on the outside and a place for storage of cases in the center resembled somewhat a cross between a grocer's delivery wagon and the tin peddlers cart of by gone New England days." Titcomb wrote that the wagon was pulled by two horses, and operated by one Mr. Thomas, a janitor.

Since Titcomb's invention over 105 years ago, bookmobiles have continued to bring the written word to those who otherwise might not have easy access to a library (for an excellent resource regarding all things bookmobile, see this website created by students* at Long Island University, which provided the reference for many of the points below):

• The Internet Archive Bookmobile traveled across the country to inform Americans about the approximate 20,000 public domain books available for free download. 
• Kentucky has the largest number of bookmobiles of any state (98). 
• California is second, with a total of 69 bookmobiles statewide. 
• One bookmobile in Kenya is camel-powered and is the subject of one of these children's books about bookmobiles. 
• Zimbabwe has one that is pulled by a donkey as well as solar-powered.
• A U.S. - Canada bookmobile collective uses an Airstream Trailer to transport its books around the two countries.
• The New Orleans Hornets, an NBA team, has partnered with Best Western to create a Hornets-themed bookmobile that holds up to 2,000 books.
• A bookmobile trivia game was played to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the St. Paul, Minn. library in 2007.
• The Night Bookmobile, a popular graphic novel by Audrey Niffenegger (that was originally a series of pieces published in the London Guardian) released in book format in 2010, depicts a midwestern version in a Winnebago.
• Niffenberger is the Honorary Chair of the 2011 National Bookmobile Day on April 11.

*Fiona Creed, Melissa Gasparotto, Aliqae Geraci, Shawn Katzman and Elizabeth Waddell, Palmer School of Library and Information Science, Long Island University, 2007

Today's event for the new bookmobile will start at 3:30 p.m. and end at 5 p.m. It will take place at Pescadero Elementary School, 620 North St, Pescadero, CA 94060.