Comments on: Service Response Discussion: Do we need a Immigrant Services response?

By: Kathleen de la Pena McCook

Kathleen de la Pena McCook — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 17:30:31 +0000

Sandra Cuban has a new book coming out on Library Services to Immigrants.
Plummer Jones -Still Struggling for Equality that will be helpful.(2004)

See REFORMA statement on service to immigrants.

By: PLA Blog » Blog Archive » PLA Service Responses discussion summary, plus deadline extended

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:29:24 +0000

[...] New Service Responses – Immigrant Services (11 comments) [...]

By: Jan Allen

Jan Allen — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:26:58 +0000

My small town library has just gone through a situation whereby a small group of our community felt we should not have Spanish (or any other language in the library) because we “were catering to illegal immigrants.” You may have seen this unfold in the news, like CNN. This all started when my American Born Spanish Speaking Employee was speaking in Spanish to assist those unable to converse in English. The problem is that anyone not speaking English is lumped in the “illegal” category. The library has always had a small collection in a variety of different languages but it had never been an issue prior to a politician “stirring the pot” regarding the hot topic of illegal immigration. I have to point out that those who were making all the noise about us providing services don’t have library cards and certainly are not aware of the role the library plays.

We already had started a Bilingual Story Time whereby a story is read in both English & then Spanish. This was popular for both Spanish and English speaking people–both wanting to learn the other language. It was made even more popular after all of the news coverage. Our employee is able to assist the children with homework (parents not speaking English don’t understand the assignments and can’t be of any help to the child).

The Board and I feel it is our duty to disseminate information to our community whether it’s a foreign speaking person, a special needs person, a person who has lived in the small community all of their life or someone brand new to our community; always trying to meet their needs. And, obviously, we need to target the audiences who are very closed minded–but exactly how does one communicate with them?

By: George H. Scheetz

George H. Scheetz — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:10:18 +0000

The needs of immigrants is not a new issue for libraries.

Many public libraries in the United States, even those in smaller communities, provided collections (in other languages) and services to new immigrants as far back as the late 19th / early 20th centuries, in an era when (for example) local newspapers in languages other than English were relatively common.

I tend to agree with Sara Laughlin, who suggested that immigrants are just one of many target audiences “to whom we must listen and with whom we must communicate in order to understand their needs and preferences before we design services.”

By: Felicia Cheney

Felicia Cheney — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 16:30:12 +0000

I think that the immigrant population is unique. Many groups have varied cultural background and I think that we have to be sensitive to those needs. Some people from varied cultures may have a hard time with the range of materials we offer–maybe some are too racy or too free thinking. We have a unique opportunity to introduce these groups to what being a United States citizen means. We need to show that freedom of speech, freedom to learn are important basic components of our government. Europe is struggling with a large influx of Islamic peoples who may change the way government does business. I believe that we need to look at the unique needs of our newest residents. We also need to figure out how to get them involved in developing our services.

By: Ann Hokanson

Ann Hokanson — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:33:17 +0000

I also think new immigrants is a target population, and that the other service responses address these. However, I think we can think of the service responses as a matrix, rather than a simple menu. We can identify the specific taget audiences for our service responses as appropriate, allowing our libraries to really focus on what is most important in our community. In our town, our libraries basic literacy services essentially focus on new immigrants. But we don’t say that anywhere, and I think we should. It is an acknowledgment of a service priority, and an important recognition of what we are NOT doing–keeping us focused on the task deemed most important.

By: Kathryn Ames

Kathryn Ames — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:23:17 +0000

We consider the library to be a “hub” for services to new immigrants as well as a central location for the coordination of services of many other organizations and partners. When we first developed our program, we used the PFR model with Lifelong Learning as the service response. It has been more than adequate in defining our roles and services to the targeted population. Because we have now expanded services and partnerships, we’ve added the Commons to this experience. I know that this will be a growing trend for community demographics, but I personally don’t think it needs to be a separate response.

By: Sara Laughlin

Sara Laughlin — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:02:36 +0000

As I reviewed the current library responses, it seems to me that the services required to meet the needs of this new audience are covered in many of the existing responses–Literacy, Job/Career, Government Information, Commons, etc., so I think we should consider immigrants as “just another target audience” to whom we must listen and with whom we must communicate in order to understand their needs and preferences before we design services.

By: Susan Waxter

Susan Waxter — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:24:55 +0000

I agree that there are great possibilities for services the libraries can offer to people with the needs discussed in the previous posts, and that these needs could well be unique from those of other customers. I wonder, though, about the term ‘immigrants.’ The services listed in Susan Mann’s post could be useful to people who might not have immigrated recently, or who might not have immigrated at all but been born to immigrants after their arrival in the US. Also, I’m not sure how we would identify discrete populations of ‘immigrants’ to whom to target these services. Perhaps a more general term would be more useful. Finally, at least in our library’s case, I don’t know if we would select this as a systemwide service response, as it would hardly apply to some branches while being very appropriate for others, depending on demographics.

By: Rsoeline Williams

Rsoeline Williams — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 02:25:26 +0000

Reflecting on the news of immigrant issues facing many communities in different countries, I have been pondering how a society best addresses those issues. Many of the problems result from isolation of the new comers, either voluntarily or involuntarily. The lack of assimilation breeds conflict and misunderstanding. No other stakeholders in the community are better equipped than the public libraries to serve this group of population. After all, public libraries are the most democratic institution in the United States. Immigration along with rapid globalization is the fact of life in many communities and will become even more so. I am glad to see libraries are position themselves to take on the task to provide immigrant services.