Should American libraries be subsidized?

[anna7602]

Just had an interesting discussion with DH in which we differed. I'm usually the liberal, our-tax-dollars-should-pay-for-that type and he's usually much more conservative. But, he was outraged when I showed him the fees for the American library here in Paris. (I was thinking of joining for the summer, especially for the kids' programs.) He couldn't believe that wasn't something the U.S. government subsidized.

I'm more of the "I guess I could buy books in English if I really wanted to, why should the government pay for the books I read while here" mentality. DH thought of it is as the kind of service that should fall under the Embassy or the Consulate's regular offerings.

Where do you fall on this debate? Bonus question: do you have any kind of American library where you are and if so, what do they charge?

[tktravels]

I have no idea if there is an American library here in Poland, but I know there was a lovely library in Casablanca (through Dar America) when I was living in Morocco last year. I never got to make use of it personally (it was a 12 hour bus ride each way), but as I was placed in Morocco by the US govt, it was part of my job spiel to plug the programs at Dar America, which were offered free to Moroccan citizens.

While I feel pretty strongly about libraries in the US, I agree with you regarding those on foreign soil. That and I have a Kindle and a library account back in the US, so I can still access books (although I do have to wait on a list almost all of the time).

[aMrsin09]

I'm with you on this one. If the Gov't subsidized a library in Paris, expats would want to know/demand/expect a subsidized library in every foreign capital/larger city.

[clickerish]

I agree with you for the same reasons as above.

In several places we lived there were some sort of mini library, but those were usually mounted by expats themselves and passed along (or maintained by expats who weren't transitory). I do love libraries, but you can use public local libraries or university libraries that often have English books if you're desperate.

[travelingturtle]

I agree with you. I would bet that there's some kind of small, possibly not even worth it, library available to embassy staff at the embassy. I don't see why Americans should pay taxes for libraries abroad. Plus, I doubt that the embassy is involved in the library. I wonder how many more people the embassy would have to employ just to have that service. And seriously (because I've thought about this particularly) if they had anything, I would want a grocery store and a bbq or tex-mex restaurant.

[travelingturtle]

And to answer your bonus question, the closest library we have to what you mentioned is the International Library in Dusseldorf. They charge, I believe, $15/year. They offer lots of free (and probably paid) events throughout the year. It's a pretty small library, though. Our local German library has some books in English and they have a whole branch of a French library in my area of town. What I would give for that to be an English library instead!

[anna7602]

I was thinking about this more as I fell asleep last night and realized DH may be confusing the situation with places where the American Embassy really does play more of a role in promoting access to information to the people of that country, not just Americans. I'm thinking of closed societies under dictatorship, for example, and specific projects I learned of when I did free expression work in my last career. But, Paris can hardly be compared to that. There's a French public library in every arrondissement and a newstand on every corner. This is not a society that lacks in access to information!

The yearly fee, by the way, is 170 Euros, pro-rated if you're not buying the full year membership. It is steep, but hey, I have the choice not to pay it and not to join.

[clogged]

I never heard of a US Library abroad. Paid or otherwise. I learned something today!

I could see it, paid full or in part by US tax dollars, in some area where Americans are required to go (like for military purposes), of a particular population size (so not if there are just 50 people there. More like populations in the 1000's), and a local library isn't available to them. Probably not that big number of those areas floating around.

In the end, we pay taxes too. But it also needs to be "fair and equal." So if small town USA gets their library shut due to lack of funds, it hardly seems fair that equivalent size expat group in country X gets one opened.

[anna7602]

Jun 16, 2012 2:45:30 GMT -5 clogged said:

In the end, we pay taxes too. But it also needs to be "fair and equal." So if small town USA gets their library shut due to lack of funds, it hardly seems fair that equivalent size expat group in country X gets one opened.

This is an excellent argument to back up my point to DH. Our local libraries in NYC are experiencing cuts, something I found intensely maddening. I would MUCH rather see more adult classes, kids' story hours, evening hours, etc. available to people in the U.S. than have something free available to me here.

[bugabean]

I've never heard of an American library abroad either.

[elenetxu]

Couldn't one argue that it could be just another English-language and cultural outreach initiative of the embassy? I was seriously surprised to see the American embassy in Spain is going to send up teacher training specialists in September, at no apparent cost to the regional government, to train local teachers.

If this is an ok use of embassy money, I could certainly imagine that a cultural center like a library would be!

[GilliC]

Beijing had some private English-language libraries. They were targeted at ex-pats in general, rather than Americans. They operated mostly on donations like giant hostel lending shelves. I think the borrowing privileges were free, because they functioned mostly as cafes and event locations, but I don't know for sure, because I never ended up using them. The collection was never alphabetized properly, and it the selection was really random.

I love the library here, because they have a huge English collection! They also carry books in any language you can imagine, from Icelandic to Urdu to Esperanto. And it's free. And very digitized, so I can search for a book online, and click a button to have it reserved and delivered to the branch closest to me. I am so spoiled.