Monday June 29
Today we start the official program. In the Institute for International Education we meet the Program Officers who coordinate and manage our program. Aproximately 3000 people per year are invited under similar programs to the USA. We discuss the program in detail and settle a lot of administrative questions.

After a lunch sponsored by the US Department of State Mr Edwin S. Clay, the Director of the Fairfax County Public Library, starts the first lecture. 81 % of the 123.000 libraries in the USA are connected to schools, 8 % are public libraries (usually equipped with heritage rooms), 7 % are specialised libraries and 3 % are academic libraries. 62 % of the US adults have library cards and check out 7 books per year! Apart from many other facts we learn that being a librarian is not only highly estimated in society, but also highly paid! Libraries keep privacy. The moment a book is returned to the library the name of the borrower is erased.

Due to long opening hours I can spend an hour in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where I find among others three paintings by John Singer Sargent. In the Gallery of American Presidents you find the portraits of John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton both painted by female artists.