American Center Brings Library Culture to Russia.

(From The Moscow Times)

Any homesick American can step into the American Center and feel a little bit better: It looks just like a library back home. From the bust of Mark Twain to the wall of American magazines, the center has everything a standard U.S. public library has, only it's in Moscow.

Although the American Center is designed to educate Russians about American life and culture, any English-speaker can take advantage of its resources and activities. "Our goal is to provide an open access library and provide complete information about the United States to the Russian public," said the center's director, Marisa Fushille. "We provide all the services an American public library would provide, like lectures and activities."

Like any library, the …