Children waiting at the Prince George’s County Memorial Library, Maryland, 1951. National Archives/23932511.
Atlas Obscura has a wonderful collection of photos of vintage traveling libraries. They started out with horses and carriages, and in some cases, just a librarian and a horse.
A packhorse librarian leaving a cabin after delivering books, Kentucky, c. 1930s. Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection/University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
The Benjamin Franklin bookmobile, Mexico City, 1953. National Archives/23932428.
Benjamin Franklin and Mexico City? Oh my. Quick, someone tell the Tiny Tyrant! There are many more delightful traveling libraries to be seen here.
More books!!! Everywhere!
They still have versions of this in rural areas here, I think. Or they did, relatively recently, though I must say the community library is a firmly entrenched idea, too.