Public library straddles U.S.-Canadian border

There's a black line across the floor in the Haskell Free Library and Opera House. It divides Kenneth Baldwin International Reading Room in two: Canada on one side, the United States on the other.

The world-famous building "was constructed deliberately astride the boundary line separating Canada from the United States" and has been classified a historic site by the Canadian and American governments, as well as the Province of Quebec.

Patrons enter the turn-of-the-century Victorian building in Derby Line, Vermont, and check out their books in Stanstead, Quebec.

According to the official site:

"Nowhere else in the world can one sit in an opera house that is literally split in two by an international border, where most of the audience sits in the U.S. to watch a show on a stage in Canada. Nowhere else can one find such an unusual library. The front door is in the U.S., the circulation desk and all of the books are in Canada, and the reading room is international."

Because of the border proximity in that area, many residents dwelling in Quebec's border communities were born in Newport, Vermont, qualifying them for dual-citizenship.

The library holds over 20,000 books in both French and English.

Because English books have titles printed top-to-bottom on their spines and French books have bottom-to-top titles, the books can be filed together with their languages easily determined.

The building and its facilities are governed by a seven-member volunteer board of trustees, four Americans and three Canadians.

(Photo credit: Flickr/Kables' Photostream)