RIVERSIDE AT 40

This month the Riverside Regional Library system celebrates 40 years of service to Southeast Missouri.

Started as a bookmobile that traveled to various communities in the region, Riverside has expanded along with information technology. Patrons now can access the Internet by computer, literally linking Southeast Missourians with the world.

During the early 1950s, support for a county library mounted. Leading the effort was the Women's Extension Club, which convinced the Missouri State Library to send a bookmobile to Jackson in 1953. The mobile library traveled throughout Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties to show what was possible if a library were established.

In April 5, 1955, voters overwhelmingly approved a tax increase to provide library service in the three counties. From its mean origin -- 7,000 books shelved in the basement of the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse -- the library has grown to serve almost 30,000 patrons at branch sites in Scott City, Benton, Altenburg, Perryville and Oran.

All of the changes have come with one primary goal in mind: How best to serve Southeast Missouri library patrons. For 40 years, Riverside Library has been a story of success in attaining that goal.