Libraries? Are there public libraries as we know them?

If you ask your lady about libreria she will think you mean bookstore. A library would be a 'biblioteca'. I think there are some private libraries here and there, in Libereria Cuesta I think they allow you to read books they have there, but that's in SD.

Then there is the Biblioteca Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ure?a, but that's more for cultural / political studies I think.

there is a library in POP, old city centre, two corners away from the cathedral:
http://www.puertoplatadigital.com/verNoticia.aspx?Id=18618
http://www.screnovacion.org/verDocumento.aspx?Id=9

the spanish word for library is biblioteca.

In Santiago there are several also.

http://juancardenes.tripod.com/SantiagoLibrary.html

My fren Mr Google said there are 130 in the country but no list other than the National Library in SD

Did you ask your gf about a "Libreria"? Library and librer?a are false cognates. Yes, there are public libraries!

For books in English there is the Helen Kellogg Library in Santo Domingo.

The source of confusion is the false cognate, as pointed out above.
Library = biblioteca
Bookshop - librer?a

Biblioteca Cultural Renovaci?n in Puerto plata,

seek and you will find.

http://www.screnovacion.org/

my family been here for generations

sorry just saw its already posted

Derfish said:

Actually the problem is Dominicanas who have never got past what we think of as 4th grade. Biblioteca is what we call it in Miami when we speak Spanish, and the word didn't register with her.

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That must be the problem. I don't remember in which grade I learned about "bibliotecas", but it must have been in elementary school.

There is a small public library in Barahona in the business district.

Somehow I cannot imagine a Dominican returning a book to the library. When the Dominican step kids got to Houston I took them to the public library and they got an armload of books. I ended up returning the books and paying $35.00 USD in over due fines. Now they do not have a library card and I am a little smarter.

zoomzx11 said:

Somehow I cannot imagine a Dominican returning a book to the library. When the Dominican step kids got to Houston I took them to the public library and they got an armload of books. I ended up returning the books and paying $35.00 USD in over due fines. Now they do not have a library card and I am a little smarter.

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Maybe you aren't. Haven't you yet figured out that YOUR step kids aren't a perfect representative of the roughly 10 million Dominicans? Believe it or not, the 10 million Dominicans haven't been factory made with identical blueprint.

Next time you are in the library, borrow a book about prejudice and stereotyping.

P.S. Stereotyping is defined as an "oversimplified, usually pejorative, attitude people hold toward those outside one's own experience who are different. They are a result of incomplete or distored information accepted as fact without question"

What need of the printed word.

I travel by bus here hoouurs at a time...never have I seen anyone reading...NOT ONE.
In my compo, however Haitians have asked me for book, they see me reading and ask.

dogstar said:

I travel by bus here hoouurs at a time...never have I seen anyone reading...NOT ONE.
In my compo, however Haitians have asked me for book, they see me reading and ask.

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Reading in a moving land vehicle, especially on roads that are less than perfect, isn't recommended (bad for your eyesight, and very exhausting).
Anyhow, these days paper books are falling out of favor worldwide. Different forms of electronic books are replacing paper. And many people are just dropping books altogether in favor of audio-visual material (movies, documentaries, websites, etc). Not saying it is a great thing but it is happening.

I go to a lot of yard sales in Miami. The people who have the most books are Jews, followed by Gentile White Americans. Colombians and Venezuelans have books in their sales as well. Black Americans tend to have religious books, text books and books by Black authors.

Cubans in Hialeah rarely have books, but those that live in Coral Gables and other more affluent neighborhoods have more.

I cannot recall seeing any books at lots of households.

I have never seen anyone reading a book or magazine on the Caribetours or other buses when traveling to Barahona. I have never seen anyone reading anything in the parks except newspapers.

But perhaps they are secret readers.

I recall hearing that there was one built in Navarrette, a part of then VP Margarita Cede?o's library initiative. I have not been there, however, I was able to google enough information that leads me to believe it exists, and is part of the municipal government. There are a number of smaller libraries in various places built by private charities, Peace Corp Volunteers and others. One such example is in Las Terrenas.

Navarrete: http://www.bibliotecaspublicas.es/navarrete/index.jsp
Las Terrenas: http://fundacionmahatmagandhi.com/programs.html

It's now more than 20 years that I served in Peace Corps (ouch), and the friend I left my copy of "Donde No Hay Doctor" still has it and uses it. I send books as often as I can and bring them with me when I go. I see the books used, read, valued and shared. This is a "campo" example, of course, but not one that is unique.

Be the change you want to see in the world, and all that!

So I know DV8 is our resident newspaper reader, but I also found this article written in Hoy Digital on a brief "history" of libraries in the Dominican Republic.

*Spanish alert*

http://hoy.com.do/desarrollo-de-la-biblioteca-en-la-republica-dominicana/

If you are American, and you are thinking about the libraries Andrew Carnegie donated all across the country---free, and in small towns, cities, and tiny hamlets---then think again. There is no such thing.

If you are a reader, you should get a kindle. If you are a Luddite who insists on lugging around books, you can have good luck at certain Anglo/Euro hotels (Hotel Tropix in Sosua is one such) where you can take a book and read and then the next time you come, return it or bring another. But I don't get this kindle snobbery: I read 3-4 books a week. I have 400 books on my kindle and it fits in my handbag. I have the complete works of Dickens, Shakespeare, Austen, the Brontes, Harry Potter (go ahead: laugh), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Leonardo Padura, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Junot Diaz, Isabel Allende, Julia Alvarez, Victor Hugo, all of the Mitford Sisters, etc., etc. I can read in the dark, at the beach, at restaurants, with the touch of a button.

In high school in a small town in Massachusetts, I worked at the local Carnegie library. One of the best things I ever did. As an adult, I worked at The New York Public Library for 3 years as the associate director of major gifts and planned giving and there is nobody more dedicated to reading than I am.

But totally unfortch, this country is not committed to reading. We're a long way from it, and when my espanol is better, this may be my cause. In the meantime, my literate friend: use your kindle.