Crossing International Borders
June 29th, 2005 by Jennifer SniderThis session included presentations by five librarians who work in libraries that serve multi-lingual and multi-cultural populations.
Barbara Clubb of Ottawa Public Library started off the program by speaking about how OPL is required by the government to serve both French and English speaking populations. OPL offers bilingual reference and information services, programming, children’s services, speakers and authors, book clubs, website and even a bilingual ILS. The challenges this library faces include the scarcity of bilingual staff, insufficient training funds, additional costs for buying resources in both languages, duplication of materials and a language rivalry.
Helen Ladron de Guevara Cox from Universidad de Guadalahara then spoke about offering services to indigenous people in Jalisco, Mexico. There are 62 languages spoken in Mexico and 5 intercultural universities. The library in Jalisco is creating collections in indigenous languages, providing computer training and offering literacy programs.
Next Barbara Ford of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs spoke about the sister library program (an ALA initiative, and on ALA’s website) and hosting international librarians. The sister library program encourages US libraries to form relationships with libraries in other countries to exchange information, improve access to published information in both countries, raise awareness of issues facing libraries in other countries, and offer opportunities to learn more about a country represented by a group in your local community. Hosting international librarians gives an opportunity for international colleagues to observe first hand the day-to-day operations of libraries in the US and to share their stories about libraries in their countries.
Mike Ragen of Illinois State Library spoke of librarians using the census bureau to find information on the community they are serving. He also mentioned grants that his office had provided to local libraries to create cross-cultural programs such as a cultural exchange center, a spanish language video, and holding a family reading night for hispanics where books were read in both English and Spanish.
Finally, Raymond Santiago from Miami-Dade Public Library spoke about the community his library system serves. In the MDPL community 50% of the people were born outside of the US. There are currently 43 branches and collections in 30 different languages. Mr. Santiago spoke to members of these different populations and found that they all want the same thing out of the library; a safe place where a kid could ride a bike there and read a book. MDPL has instituted an international storytelling festival that is in its fifth year and has held librarian exchange programs with librarians in Ireland and Ghana. In his presentation he stated that we shouldn’t make diversity programming different from the other library operations, we should make it part of our normal functions.
My comments: The bottom line is that librarians need to know the communities they are serving. They must constantly evaluate their programs, holdings and circulation statistics as well as other indicators to determine if the needs of their patrons are being met. The best way to know what the community wants is to get out and ask them!
Tags: ALA2005, conferences
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