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For the English speaking community in Oaxaca, nothing is more central to our lives than our Library. Thirty-five years old this year, it has grown steadily, from a room containing the collection of one man to a two-floor, ten-room complex of reading rooms and meeting spaces housing 25,000 volumes.

The web which has kept our library together over these last three and a half decades has been spun by our Librarian, Sra. Ruth Gonzales. The rest of us have come and gone over the years, but the vision and the continuity repose in this U.S.-born octogenarian powerhouse who came here for a visit in the early 1950s, fell in love with her guide to Monte Alban, and never left.

We are a small community of only 400 households scattered over a wide area in and around Oaxaca city. We can't afford to pay a lot for staff, and only recently have we been able to pay Ruth a decent wage, and to guarantee her retirement. Along with a few part time paid assistants, Ruth manages the Library with the help of an often-changing group of member/volunteers. Up until this year, there has been only one desk to deal with, but with the acquisition of the rooms upstairs we have had to add another desk, at which will sit yet other volunteers to be trained, supervised and cajoled. . All this without computers, because everyone has their limits and computers are beyond the pale for our Ruth.

Aside from her "regular" duties, she suffers a steady stream of new arrivals, all of which have questions which she has already answered a thousand times over the years, and all of which she answers still, politely and patiently. "Ask Ruth" is the response, for everyone who doesn't know the answer to any question about Oaxaca.

We gringos are not the only ones to use the facilities. More and more, as the years go on and the word gets out, our Oaxacan neighbors are becoming members, particularly the students and young people; and they are not just taking out books in English. Books in Spanish are the fastest growing segment of our collection, and while this is important to them, it is not the major reason they come in.

In the traditional libraries, such as the one run by the city, just down the street, readers may not take books out. They must be read on the premises, and the process of checking them out is elaborate and alienating. Readers must fill out a requisition form, and wait for an attendant to bring them the book. Stacks may not be browsed.

In our library, members may check out up to six books, from open shelves. While some text books and reference materials may not be removed from the premises, almost all our books circulate (thus our name: Circulating Library of Oaxaca). And students get a discounted membership fee. Those who cannot afford the fee can come in and read all they want, but they can't take books out.

These developments are part of our policy of increased service to the community within which we live, and the growing Spanish language collection is part of the reason we needed to expand our space.

A few days ago, we held an open house at the Library, to show off our upstairs rooms, introduce our new cookbook, and celebrate Ruth's 80th birthday. Attended by some of her children and grandchildren, and surrounded by members, Ruth dutifully cut and passed out the cake and gave a modest speech of praise for the Library, with no mention of herself. It was vintage Ruth.

We don't know how much longer we will have her (there used to be some talk of retirement at 80, but now that 80 has arrived, the talk seems to have faded), but as of now, she is as strong and clear and determined as she ever was, and we are awfully glad she is here.

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