Rewriting Book on Libraries From Immigrants’ View

The Washington Post Reports as the Washington suburbs draw more immigrants, many of the region’s public libraries are recasting themselves as welcome centers for “new Americans,” emulating a program pioneered decades ago in the New York borough of Queens. Signs at the Gaithersburg branch identify the checkout desk in Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese. The profusion of return dates stamped on the back of Chinese romance novels shows the popularity of the library’s growing foreign-language collections.