Leading the Way:
A Glimpse at the Role of Rural Librarianship in Nebraska
Gayle Roberts - Promotions Specialist; Criss Library, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Nebraska’s libraries owe their existence to rural librarianship. Larger cities, such as Omaha, Lincoln, and Nebraska City -- all were small rural towns in the beginning, and the current extensive library system has roots extending into the prairie. Rural librarianship may not serve the largest population in the state, but it certainly did serve, and currently serves, a great portion of the state.
In the beginning, the Continental Congress of 1777 called for the formation of Regimental libraries, such as Nebraska’s own Fort Atkinson. Officers "contributed one day's pay towards the purchase of books." By the 1820s, Fort Atkinson's regiment librarians performed tasks such as cataloging, recording costs of the books in the library ledger, collecting fines and circulating materials. Newspapers were placed in the reading room and the librarian had to know the rank and file, as military rank had its privileges.[1] Enlisted men faced hard conditions, low pay and vicious discipline. The libraries brought “a touch of civilization to these soldiers serving under such adverse conditions.”[2]
In the early winter of 1857, the Territory of Nebraska housed its first official library in the small community of Omaha. A village of approximately eighteen hundred citizens, Omaha incorporated its library with “faith…hope…and vision.” The library originators had little money, little time to steal away from household chores and livelihoods, and little support. They saw the library as a place where future generations would grow and learn. Others in the community saw it as a symbol of their commitment to civic growth, and some saw it as an attraction to future settlers. Undaunted, this small group of determined men formed the Omaha Library Association, and librarianship began flourishing throughout the Territory. The Association employed E.V. Smith as a full time librarian. Lectures were held, materials gathered and collections built. A large selection of newspapers was made available and hours suited the schedules of the community.[3] For all the good the Association did, money issues disrupted the operation, along with personal rivalries, and the Omaha Library Association ceased its operations. It could not sustain itself amongst “its unstable financial backing, hard times, and dissension among the members,” thus ending in three short years. [4]
After a forty year absence of a solid governmental library organization, The Nebraska Public Library Commission formed in 1901. It had a grand purpose: “to send books on request anywhere in the state, to visit and help existing libraries, to encourage establishment of libraries where none existed, to circulate traveling libraries, and to advise and assist library boards and librarians.” Four people were assigned to complete the tasks, including a state librarian. Libraries were built across the state and by the 1920’s, Nebraska boasted of its 112 free public libraries. The Commission addressed the need for books in out-state Nebraska. Twenty counties claimed that the materials in their holdings were only worth $25.00. Out of the thirty three counties in the state, 91% of the residents had no access to a local library. Even so, the state’s governor, Charles W. Bryan, encouraged the legislature to disband the commission, as there was “unnecessary duplication of state funded library programs.” He eventually succeeded in 1933, and the Commission was eliminated. Commission programs were relinquished to the University of Nebraska for proper administration.[5]
Rural Nebraska found friends in Governor Roy Cochran and his wife, Aileen. Governor Cochran, elected in 1934, made libraries a “top priority.” Both the Governor and his wife grew up in rural areas of Nebraska, where books were scarce and library services nearly nonexistent. Though faced with the Great Depression, the Governor and Mrs. Cochran worked with willing legislators to draft a plan for when “prosperity returned.” They drafted two bills: Senate File 273, which would reinstate the Nebraska Public Library Commission, and Senate File 272, which provided the state with a foundation for library expansion. The Governor promoted the bills, stating that they would build a “state and county library system which can…be developed in the future so that it will provide adequate library service for every farm home and school in the state, as well as serving the people in the towns.” Both librarians and legislators opposed the bills, but after the controversies were addressed, both bills passed that next May. [6]
Mrs. Cochran’s enthusiasm continued and by February 1936 she secured funding for the state’s first Bookmobile. At the cost of $845.48, the Bookmobile transformed rural librarianship, providing opportunities to serve the people. By the end of 1936, Nebraska had a total of 289 libraries across the state.[7]
Nebraska counties all struggled with the cost of opening and maintaining a library. The WPA joined forces with local government in hopes of providing reading materials, but uncertainty arose in whether or not “communities would agree to pay a small expense.”[8] In 1942, the Lincoln Journal reported that Rock County taxpayers petitioned for a vote on whether or not to establish a county library. In order to do so, they would have to “cut down expenses elsewhere or vote an excess levy.”[9] The Bookmobile service proved a saving grace for counties where money was scarce.
Throughout the upcoming years, the Bookmobile gained popularity. “As the Bookmobile moves through Lancaster County, it becomes a Pied Piper,” wrote the Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star, “it shows them the way to pleasure and education.”[10] The Bertrand Herald reported that community groups helped to fund the Bookmobile, donating $52.53 in May of 1942.[11] Newspapers across the state reported on changes in Bookmobile schedules and circulation records.[12] County libraries in Nebraska loaned books to each other, traded with each other, manned the Bookmobiles, and strived to reach the goal of a “book for every child.”[13] Library news appeared as often in newspapers as the price of crops and the local club news.
The Bookmobiles and rural libraries were a success; but that success was achieved due to the librarians who believed in the project and its purpose. A Phelps County demonstration librarian, Eva Olson, proudly claimed:
“Never before have we made the attempt to reach every child through his school…Phelps county is one of the trail-blazers in the state when it comes to the rural library, and because we may be establishing patterns for other county libraries, we have undertaken a new service only when we were confident that the library had sufficient equipment, books, schedule time, and staff to carry it through successfully.”[14]
Miss Geraldine Heartwell, librarian at the Adams County Library in Hastings, Nebraska, stated that “we have been reaching a large number of rural readers…and we feel our program is being well received.” [15] Mr. R.W. (Brownie) Brown was recognized by a local paper as he prepared to travel to Denver to “learn more about library work.” He was surrendering his Bookmobile duties for the summer; but the paper vowed he’d be back in the fall.
There is no doubt that rural librarianship has made a difference in the lives of many Nebraskans. A recent ALA report shows that over 80% of the countries libraries “reside in towns with populations less than twenty-five thousand” and that “rare is the town of over three thousand that does not boast a public library.”[16] The Mountain Plains Library Association (MPLA) quotes a 2002 Nebraska Rural Poll as reporting that 76% of those responding were “very satisfied” with their local library services.[17]
From the first instance of an army private reading a newspaper, to the children in Adams County updating their school materials, to the present - when the Shelton Township Library welcomes the local Bookmobile; the men and women who believe in the access to information can be found. All of us are better for it.
Endnotes
1 Miller J. Stewart, "A Touch of Civilization: Culture and Education in the Frontier Army, “ Nebraska History, 65, no. 2 (1984): 265-266.
2 Ibid., 258.
3Phillip A. Kalisch, “High Culture on the Frontier: The Omaha Library Association,” Nebraska History, 52, no. 4 (1971): 411-414.
4 Ibid., 416.
5 Mary Cochran Grimes, “Books For Nebraska: Roy & Aileen Cochran and the Nebraska Public Library Commission,” Nebraska History, 78, no. 3 (1997): 102-103.
6 Ibid., 104-105.
7 Ibid., 106-107.
8 Lincoln Star, Apr. 10, 1940. Nebraska Library Commission (NLC) Bookmobile Scrapbook.
9 Lincoln Journal, Aug 8, 1942. NLC Bookmobile Scrapbook.
10 Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star, August 23, 1942. NLC Bookmobile Scrapbook.
11 Bertrand Herald, May 22, 1942. NLC Bookmobile Scrapbook.
12 Holdrege Citizen, June 2, 1942. NLC Bookmobile Scrapbook.
13 Bertrand Herald, Aug. 7, 1942. NLC Bookmobile Scrapbook.
14 Holdrege Citizen, August 7, 1942. NLC Bookmobile Scrapbook.
15 Hastings Tribune, August 3, 1942. NLC Bookmobile Scrapbook.
16 Wayne Wiegand, “Collecting Contested Titles: The Experience of Five Small Public Libraries in the Rural Midwest, 1893-1956,” Libraries & Culture, 40 no. 3 (2005): 368-84; Accessed 1/27/2007: http://vnweb.hwson.web.com/leo.lib.unomaha/edu/hww/results/results_single.
17 MPLA Board Reports Archive: Nebraska. Accessed 1/31/2007. http://www.mpla.us.documents/reports/state/ne/20021002.html.
