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Story: Rural services

Country Library Service van

Image
Country Library Service van

Women choose books from a Country Library Service book van at Rāhotu, Taranaki, in 1972. The service, set up in 1937, sent book vans to country areas without local libraries.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, James Sutherland Collection

Reference: PA1-o-847-34-4

by James Hector Sutherland

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Rural services – Getting news and information, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/18567/country-library-service-van (accessed 5 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 1 March 2009.