Question

read the passage.
bringing books to people
when mary lemist titcomb became the first librarian of marylands washington county free library in 1901, she was determined to ensure convenient, widespread access to library materials. to this end, she established dozens of small branch libraries at churches, post offices, and stores. while the plan was successful, titcomb felt that some residents of isolated rural areas still found it hard to justify a trip to one of those still-distant locations, much less to the main library itself. some people werent even aware that the branches existed. titcomb decided to address this situation by delivering books directly to peoples homes. to achieve this goal, she designed the first horse-drawn book wagon. the wagon, with space for a variety of books, made its first trip in 1904. the project was so successful that it inspired other libraries to start their own mobile library programs.
what is the main, or central, idea of the passage?
mary titcomb established a network of branch libraries to ensure access to library materials for people living in isolated areas.
in her quest to expand library access, mary titcomb designed the first mobile library.
mary titcomb noticed that because of their isolation, people in rural areas had limited awareness of the library.

Explanation:

1. Analyze the first option: It says Mary Titcomb established branch libraries for isolated areas. But the passage shows branch libraries still left some rural residents with access issues, and her main solution later was the mobile library, so this option is incomplete.
2. Analyze the second option: The passage tells that Mary Titcomb first set up branch libraries, then, to solve the remaining access problems of rural residents, she designed the first horse - drawn book wagon (mobile library) to expand library access. This option covers her overall quest to expand access and the key action of designing the first mobile library.
3. Analyze the third option: This option only focuses on her noticing the limited library awareness of rural people, which is just a part of the background leading to her designing the mobile library, not the main idea of the passage.

Answer:

In her quest to expand library access, Mary Titcomb designed the first mobile library.