Collection Title: Regional Library Service Records
Series Number: RG016-11-17
Department: Library Services
Processed and Cataloged by: Processed by Christie Leith in March 2011
Date Listed: April 6, 2011
Date Span: 1939-1947
Size of Collection: 3 linear feet
Number of Boxes: 6 letter size document cases and 1 letter half size document case
Type of Material: Correspondence, financial records and monthly reports
Condition of Material: Good
Arrangement: Organized alphabetically by title of file folder; chronological arrangement
Historical Information: In 1939, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Murray State College and the Kentucky Library Extension Division developed an agreement to provide a Regional Library Service to the citizens of Marshall, Graves and Calloway Counties. Prior to the establishment of the Regional Library Service there existed no public library in those counties. The administration of the program was placed under the Library Department of the college. The program's primary purpose was to serve the rural and county schools and improve literacy in small communities within the three counties. By the end of the Second World War, the program had over 13,000 books and employed one full time librarian, one half time librarian, one school librarian, ten teacher-librarians and over 50 volunteers. The Tennessee Valley Authority withdrew financial support for the program, which was half the entire budget, in July of 1947. The counties were unwilling to take on the added costs of the program and thus the Regional Library Service was discontinued.
Scope and Content: Collection consists of correspondence, financial records and monthly reports created by the Regional Library Service program of Marshall, Graves and Calloway Counties from 1939 to 1947. Included in the collection are book orders, annual reports, contract agreements, bookmobile statistics and various other records associated with the Regional Library Service. Added to the collection were publicity photographs from the 1940s transferred from the University photograph collection.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Murray State University. Library Services.
Kentucky Library Extension Division.
Tennessee Valley Authority – History.
Public libraries – Kentucky – Marshall County.
Public libraries – Kentucky – Graves County.
Public libraries – Kentucky – Calloway County.
Rural libraries – Kentucky.
Library cooperation – Kentucky.
School libraries – Kentucky.
