Three Decades of Challenges and Changes in US Embassy Libraries Around the World

At many crucial moments in recent foreign affairs, relations between the United States and other nations of the world have hinged on our diplomats providing accurate and timely information to governments and foreign publics about our government's policies and our goals (Dunlop, 1996). Within the US government, our relations with other peoples of the world was coined as public diplomacy, as opposed to official diplomacy between governments, by the Kennedy administration. Despite strains in US relations with other countries, international opinion polls mostly show that Americans are still admired, even as there are disagreements with US policies (Pew Research Center for People and the Press, 2003; What the World Thinks, 2004).