One of a number of events which marked the reopening of the José Maria Lafragua Library, an important 19th century Mexican public library, was a dialogue between a librarian, Elsa Barberena, and an art historian, Marco Diaz. José Maria Lafragua was a historian, politician, writer, and supporter of the arts in the city of Puebla; the dialogue deals not only with his Library, but also with other libraries founded with the intention of disseminating European culture in the ‘New Spain’, the collections of which contain many rare and fine books. Access to books and the experience of handling them has tended to be a privilege of the few in spite of Lafragua’s purpose in founding a public library; the reopening of his Library, which belongs to the Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, is a signal contribution to implementation of the principle that books are for all.