Mary Lemist Titcomb

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Mary Lemist Titcomb (1857-1932) was a thought leader in Library and Information Science. She was born in Farmington, New Hampshire in 1857. During Titcomb’s adolescence, the idea of a school for library sciences was not yet a reality, and people had to be brought into the field through other forms of publicity information. Titcomb learned of the profession in a church newsletter, and she took an immediate interest in the discipline.¹

It was at the Concord Public Library in Massachusetts that Titcomb began her work in the library field. Her job at the Concord Public Library was an apprenticeship. When Titcomb decided she was competent enough to work in the field on her own terms, she applied for a job in Vermont at the Rutland Public Library. She worked as a librarian at Rutland for twelve years. Aside from being a librarian in Rutland, Titcomb was elected to fill the office of secretary on the earliest Vermont Library Commission. When she was ready for a change, Titcomb moved on to the Washington County Free Library in Maryland, which had opened in 1901. This was only the second county library in the United States.² It was work she conducted at this library that made Titcomb known as a thought leader in Library Science today.

Titcomb strongly believed that libraries should reach out to the surrounding communities. If libraries waited for people to come to them, the patron base would be nowhere near filling its potential. She set up 22 deposit stations for the Washington County Free Library.³ These stations were store fronts where libraries could drop off requested books and patrons could pick up such books. The stations were located in different communities, so each patron would only have to travel to the nearest deposit station. Within five years, the number of stations grew from 22 to 66.⁴

It was the idea of the deposit station that helped develop the idea of a bookmobile. The deposit stations were popular, but Titcomb was aware of a potential patron base that was not aware of such services or perhaps did not care. She wanted a way to reach out to these patrons. The bookmobile was founded in 1904.⁵ This was the first time any library in the United States had delivered books to a patron’s home. The bookmobile was a horse drawn wagon, which housed a selection of books on shelving built into the wagon’s interior.⁶

Titcomb recognized the need for on the job training of library personnel. The Washington County Free Library began an official training class in 1924. Other United State libraries offered on the job training, but none of these libraries were as small as the Washington County Free Library. The class that Titcomb offered was comparable to the classes offered at now existing library schools of the time. The training class at Titcomb’s library continued until 1931.⁷ Titcomb passed away in 1932 at the age of 75. In 1990, Titcomb was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame.⁸

¹ http://www.archivesofmaryland.org/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/titcomb.html
² http://www.archivesofmaryland.org/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/titcomb.html
³ http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/
⁴ http://www.archivesofmaryland.org/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/titcomb.html
⁵ http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/
⁶ http://www.whilbr.org/bookmobile/index.aspx
⁷ http://www.archivesofmaryland.org/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/titcomb.html
⁸ http://www.msa.md.gov/

[edit] Mary Lemist Titcomb Quotes

“Would not a Library Wagon, the outward and visible signs of the service for which the Library stood, do much more in cementing friendship? Would the upkeep of the wagon after the first cost be much more than the present method? Is not Washington County with its good roads especially well adapted for testing an experiment of this kind, for the geography of the County is such that it could be comfortably covered by well planned routes?” from The Story of the Washington County Free Library (1931)

"Any account of this first Book Wagon work, the first in the United States would be incomplete without the statement that this method of rural library extension has been adopted in many states in the Union, and that new book wagons are being put in operation each year." from http://www.whilbr.org/bookmobile/index.aspx Accessed December 6, 2006

[edit] Bibliography/webliography

Titcomb, M. L. (1931). Story of the Washington County Free Library. Hagerstown, MD: Press of Hagerstown Bookbinding & Print. Co

Titcomb, M. L. (1909). A County Llibrary: and on the trail of the book wagon; two papers read at the meeting of the American Library Association. Hagerstown, MD: Herald Pub. Co.

Titcomb, M. L. & Mason, M. (1921). Book Wagons: the county library with rural book delivery. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Free Library commission.

http://www.archivesofmaryland.org/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshall/html/titcomb.html
http://www.whilbr.org/bookmobile/index.aspx
http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/
http://www.msa.md.gov/