Kris Connor

As we move more into the 21st century, technology keeps progressing. Most people get the majority of their information from the internet, smart phones and tablets. For many parts of America, bookstores and even libraries are becoming things of the past, but for parts of rural America the public library and even the good old bookmobile are going strong. Librarian Marsha Noe and her bookmobile provide residents of Madison county with their own curbside library.
Marsha has 59 stops spread around the county that she visits on two-week cycles. Stops range from day care centers and nursing homes to the development center for Madison county inmates. She knows patrons’ daily routines and what they like to read and watch.
Marsha, who graduated from Madison Central High School in 1984, has spent most her life in her hometown of Richmond. “These people start to become close friends,” says Marsha about the people on her route.
For many, such as Joyce Lakes, 69, a resident of the Waco area, the bookmobile is an outlet to the outside world because she has trouble getting to town. “I couldn’t have even gotten to read if it wasn’t for the bookmobile,” she says.
One of the last stops of the week is the Bluegrass Career Development Center in Richmond. It’s a sort of halfway house for inmates of the Kentucky Department of Corrections to help them integrate back into society.
“It’s a great way to pass the time,” says inmate Brandyn Curtsinger of Bullitt County, serving a sentence for burglary. “As a kid I hated reading, and now I read 900 pages of books in about a week.”
The bookmobile allows the inmates, with hours of down time and limited access to the outside world, to escape from their routines.
“Marsha has always been as she appears to be,” says Ruthie Maslin, Madison County Library director, who went to high school with Marsha. “She is caring, passionate and genuine.”
In the late ’80s the county established a library tax to fund the library system. So the bookmobile is here to stay.

Books on Wheels