Bibliotheek in Philipsburg

In my opinion, St. Maarten is one of the most interesting stops in the entire Caribbean. Half Dutch, half French, I had the opportunity to stop by the Philipsburg Jubilee Library located on the Dutch side a couple of weeks ago. Originally founded in 1923, the current building occupied by the library opened in 1984 and on its 75th anniversary in 1997, the library became fully automated.

From what I saw, this was definitely one of the better efforts in the Caribbean region, which so often neglects its public libraries and has little to offer in the way of materials and reference services. The staff was very accommodating and their collection not only included a decently sized section on the local history of the Netherlands Antilles, but also AV materials, a rarity in these parts. They even had a bookmobile!