Municipal Library

It so happens that the public library in Salento is right across the street from our hostal.

It is very nice for a town of only about 3,500 people.

I made a visit yesterday to try to learn more about it. The friendly librarian, Julian, did not speak English, so I enlisted Daniel to be my translator.

The library occupies two good sized rooms, for adults and children.

It is run by the town and Julian is a town employee. He said he has held a number of jobs for the town. The library also gets some support from the Ministry of Culture. Julian said the current Alcalde (mayor) of Salento, who is a woman, is very supportive of the library. The library is open six days a week for eight hours a day and a half day on Saturday. They only have one computer at Julian's desk, but he will let library patrons use it. The book collection looked pretty good.

Everything was fresh and clean with lots of posters around the walls to liven things up.

Julian lamented that there was not enough support for the library and that it tended to be a lower priority in the town budget. We had to tell him that it was no different where we come from. All in all I was impressed with the library and surprised to find one of this quality in Salento.