Description:
Regime change...it’s not always a bad thing. In 1948, the Oklahoma City Libraries said goodbye to Mabel Peacock who was stepping down after 28 years at the helm. She had seen the Library through a world war and a depression and had done well with the limited resources available to her.
Clarence Paine, a whippersnapper of a Head Librarian at 38, subsequently ushered in a new era of library services. Paine’s vision was laid out in a simple statement: “People shouldn’t have the idea that the library is a moldy, dead, too-quiet place.”
Clarence Paine’s library soon became a hive of activity. The Boys’ and Girls’ Department was established and was soon “abuzz with fun” for the youngsters. A lecture series was begun featuring area perfessers and assorted eggheads. Book clubs were established, including the very popular Great Books series based on a national curriculum. And the immensely popular Community Workshop was begun as a partnership with the Junior League.
But what about those folks who couldn’t make into the Library? Again drawing on its community partners, Oklahoma City Libraries began offering projected books. Projected books weren’t books in the planning stages, but rather microfilmed books which were literally projected onto the ceiling for invalids who were physically unable to sit up or who lacked the strength even to hold a book and turn the pages. A click of a button allowed readers to turn the page. Unfortunately, at $187, the projectors for this service were quite pricey even by today’s standards. The local chapter of the Soroptimist Club (a businesswomen’s civic group) purchased ten machines for the Library and the Junior League handed over the keys to a brand-new utility truck (affectionately dubbed Mobile Unit No. 1) to deliver the machines and films to shut-ins.
The projected books were very popular among their intended audience as they helped combat the boredom and alienation associated with being laid up in a neck brace or full-body cast and other maladies. Mobile librarians made weekly visits to borrowers to drop off and pick up book films and brought back some interesting stories. One boy learned to read by lying in bed with his hip-fractured father as he scrolled through projected books. A high school student was able to graduate on time after librarians worked with his teachers to film his textbooks. And one librarian received a call that an immobilized auto accident victim couldn’t read her projected books because of the glare from the glossy paint job on her ceiling. The librarian quickly cut a brown paper square and drove to the patron’s home where she hopped on a kitchen chair and taped the improvised screen to the ceiling. Now that’s service!