Category Archives: Uncategorized

Like Lao, I couldn’t get a reply from any libraries in Vietnam despite repeated attempts via translated email.  Just in case, I contacted the US Embassy.  Though the American Center in Ho Chi Minh City was closed for renovations during our … Continue reading →

Or Laos if you prefer, but the embassy’s page has the nicer sounding and more accurate spelling – as in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, its official name.  It was once the three kingdoms of Lao; Vientiane, the modern capital, was one … Continue reading →

I tried to find a public library near Siem Reap, Cambodia, but after a lot of searching, the most substantive information seemed to be from the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient who wrote me that “public libraries are only available…in the capital…”  … Continue reading →

Wow!  Taipei Public Library’s (TPL) main location is one of the tallest public facilities I’ve encountered. Next to lovely and vast Da’an Park, the eleven story building has thirteen floors not including subterranean parking.  A wheelchair ramp leads to a … Continue reading →

Fort Williams Library (FWL) is situated in the town center’s tree lined pedestrian precinct. Next to Ben Nevis, Scotland (and the UK’s) tallest mountain, FWL serves the municipality’s 10,000 people and used to be funded by its council, but is now one … Continue reading →

…for the community’s convenience. Llyfrgell Porthmadog (LP) or in English, Porthmadog Library, on the west coast of Wales by lovely Snowdonia National Park, shares quarters with the leisure centre. A few steps from downtown by the supermarket and tennis courts, it’s fronted … Continue reading →

While in the highest town in Germany’s Bavaria last summer I went to Stadt Bibliothek Füssen (SBF). Housed in a baroque monastery, the stairs down are half-timbered so I’m surprised to find sleek glass and steel fixtures.  Futuristic sconces and floor lamps dot the … Continue reading →