By NYLC member Rebecca Custis:

The library at the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is truly representative of a on-profit organization devoted to French culture in the New York metropolitan area. The Alliance was formed in 1971 from a combination of the French Institute and the Alliance Française de New York. To put this into perspective, an abundance of films from the French New Wave had scaled down and a new wave period of film and culture was starting to take off throughout the United States. A New Yorker or Frenchman living in New York back then would tell you that this American new wave began in New York City but only the library from The New Yorker could truly confirm that.

People become members of FIAF for many reasons. Americans may join because they want to experience French culture and Frenchmen may join because they want to feel like they are at home in France. Regardless, there is a library that serves these needs and desires at FIAF, the John & Francine Haskell Library. It has historical editions by the likes of Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway that can be viewed on premise. Most of all, it has a well curated collection of books, periodicals and DVDs in which members can digest the French language and its culture.