THE HISTORY OF FOAL & INFORMATION ABOUT
THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE LIBRARY IN MONTPELLIER
The association
“The Friends of the Anglophone Library” (FOAL) was set up six & a half
years ago once it became clear that we were not going to be able to save the
former American Library in Montpellier. We fought long & hard & got a
lot of press coverage. Our petition gathered 2200 signatures. Sadly to no
avail. The new association wanted to provide a library, not to replace the old
one, but at least to offer a good selection of books to English speakers in
Montpellier and surrounding areas.
We started out
very small in the premises of a language school, then we moved to a member’s
flat where we stayed for two & a half years, then we had to move again to a
member’s house where we stayed another two years. We believed in the enterprise
but it was tough going at times since it was difficult to increase membership
with no permanent address. But we persevered thanks to a dedicated Chair Person
& Board. We also set up a blog (foal34.blogspot.fr) & Facebook page
(Friends of the Anglophone Library)
We have been in
our super new premises for a year with well over a thousand books (and
counting). For our new acquisitions we concentrate on recent publications and
we are very much up to date with what goes on in the publishing world. Right at
the beginning we completed a project to collect the 100 Best Novels of the XX
century using various lists from internet. We also have the 10 Best Novels of
the XX1 century. We have added a Children’s Section in the new premises which
we have wanted for a long time but were not able to supply through lack of
space. We also have a permanent Book Sale thanks to donations from members. We
ask people to send us a list before we accept donations (email to foal34@gmail.com ) Our lending policy is pretty flexible, normally it
is 2 books for two weeks, especially new books which need to have a quick
turnover. (older books can be taken out for longer)
Annual membership dues: 40
euros family membership 30 euros active member, 20 students.
FOAL also
organizes events for members and non-members, we have our famous Book Quiz (February).
Regular “Book Chat” meetings for members enable participants to talk about
books they have read and exchange recommendations. For more info about this,
send an email to mishex@wanadoo.fr Thanks to volunteers we also offer English conversation
sessions
Chairperson Vicki
Metherell Secretary Daphne
Schoenhals Treasurer Mike Davison
Venue 23 rue Lakanal Montpellier Opening hours: every Wednesday 3-6pm
& 1st & 3rd Saturday 10-12.30am
