News

WORDS ON WHEELS: N.C. honors county library for innovation

By Lightning Reports, Published: September 13, 2026

Henderson County’s mobile library won a state honor for innovation.

Rebecca McCall, the Board of Commissioners liaison on the library board when the books-on-wheels idea was developed, described how the project came about.

“During my tenure on the board, we had this grand, huge RV-sized mobile library planned and received a grant, and we were so excited,” she said during the Sept. 9 county commission meeting. “And then Covid hit, and it just really put a quietus on everything, and we couldn't get the parts to even get the mobile library built, and eventually the grant money ran out.

“But knowing this board the way I do, and their ingenuity, they came up with Plan B. They decided on a smaller library. It's a van size, but you can stand up in it. And the Friends of the Library, which is a very special group, provided a lot of the funding to help outfit this mobile library.”

During the annual convention of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners last month, Henderson County was one of 11 counties that received the Excellence in Innovation award.

The innovation award is not the only honor the county library has received. Last December, Trina Rushing received the 2025 Director of the Year Award from the North Carolina Public Library Directors Association.