The building in this photo is labeled with the German word for "library". It was interesting to learn that over the course time the branch libraries in NYC neighborhoods have been stocked with books in the language most of the residents spoke - not necessarily English. Furthermore, the language of the books that are stocked change to match the ethnicity of the neighborhood as it changes. When this neighborhood was first settled, most all people in the area were German, and not much English was spoken or read. Thus, the building had a German sign and most of the books on the shelf were written in German. When the Germans migrated to another section of town, and as the new ethnic group took over, the books were switched out to match the language of the current residents. Over the years, they have had to switch out books to 4 different languages to serve the people using the library.
