Foreign-Language Materials Opposed in Lewisburg Library

The Marshall County Memorial Library has received a lot of attention for books on its shelves.

A weekly bilingual reading hour is popular among local students and the library stocks about 1,000 materials composed in a foreign language or bilingual. The library has about 60,000 books, DVDs and tapes.

Yet at a community meeting Tuesday, a few community members objected to having foreign material in the taxpayer-funded library.

Library staff said the library is a place for people of different backgrounds to learn and to be informed.

High school students, who are required to take a foreign language, visit the library regularly.

"It's a big help to know what the word means in Spanish and English," said," Lindsey Miller, a high school student in Lewisburg.

A few critics said that the foreign material benefits illegal immigrants at the expense of taxpayers.

The debate has prompted phone calls from individuals interested in donating money for Spanish books or supporting the library's new bilingual librarian.

The library has a $13,000 annual budget. This year $130 was spent on Spanish books, most coming from state or private donations.

Opponents of the foreign language material say they will take their issue to county officials.