New York City's three library systems -- the New York Public Library, the Queens Borough Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library -- get most of their operating funds from the city, with contributions from the state and Federal governments and from private donors. But in recent years the city's funding has become part of an annual budget dance, in which the Mayor makes proposed funding cuts and Council leaders eventually restore most of the cut.
Mr. Strong said the library system started to reach out to immigrants as potential library users in the 1980's, when a survey showed that Spanish-speaking immigrants were far less likely than other residents to use the library. ''That was mainly because they didn't know we existed, because in many Latin American countries, there's no such thing as a public library,'' he said.
To lure more Hispanic users, the library built up the Spanish collection and promoted itself heavily in the Spanish-language media. In 1996, the library started listing the system's holdings in Spanish as well as English in the computer catalogue.
A similar emphasis on the Chinese community started about 10 years ago, and in the last 3 to 5 years, the library has expanded its reach among Indian and Russian immigrants.
Jennifer Tan, who emigrated from Malaysia about seven years ago and brings her 7-year-old daughter to the library at least twice a week, said that when she was growing up, the only way to get books was to buy them. ''But here it seems like every corner you go there seems to be a library,'' she said.
The library system strives to buy in bulk in all languages when it sees a heavy demand, and to market its offerings the way a book retailer would. At the central library in Jamaica, books on the New York Times best-seller list are laid out on a tiered display, with stacks of 10 or more of each title. Most branches buy multiple copies of college exam review books and how-to manuals.
''We want it to be like going to a bookstore,'' Mr. Strong said. ''We also buy lots of paperbacks of current interest in all languages because we don't argue over what's good or bad literature, we just buy what people want to read.''
Li Juan Zhong sat patiently on a miniature chair in the Flushing library's children's corner one day recently, waiting for her 8-year-old son, Bobby, to finish exploring the stacks. She speaks little English and acknowledges she cannot read the books he borrows by the dozen, but she knows they're good for him.
''His teacher told him to read for at least 15 minutes every day,'' she said, speaking in Chinese. ''But if he finds books that he likes, he goes for much longer than that.''
Mrs. Zhong, a garment factory worker who emigrated recently from Guangzhou, China, sees a library card as a sort of talisman for success. ''Who would have the money to buy all the things you need to do well in school?'' she asked.
She grabbed the pile of ''Goosebumps'' stories and how-to drawing books that Bobby had selected and proudly marched him over to the checkout line.
''Here I know he can find what he needs,'' she said. ''And that's all I want for him -- to learn.''