WebJunction

Introduction

Latin Americans now constitute the highest number of immigrants arriving to the U.S. due to both the proximity of their homelands and the economic conditions they leave behind to find better opportunity northward.  As of early 2006, the total “immigrant population has grown to a record 33.5 million people, [now] representing 12 percent of the U.S. population” (Office of Citizenship, 2006).  Mexico has been the largest source of these immigrants during the last century because of its adjacency, but now many immigrants originate from many countries in Central and South America. 

Public libraries in the United States have developed a role as service agencies since its “shift from library service shaped for cultural uplift to one of community-based service” (McCook, 2004, p.49).  Benjamin Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia , one of many social member-supported libraries created not only for scholarly pursuits but also for vocational and trade guidance, set the precedence for the public library, which was soon officially established as a governmentally supported institution, to assist immigrants from all backgrounds in making the transition to a new home and culture (McCook, 2004).  The purpose of this article is to examine the information needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants as well as barriers to addressing these at the public library, present best practices of public library services to Spanish-speaking immigrants, and articulate basic guidelines for developing services in libraries with growing Spanish-speaking communities. 

First-Generation Spanish-Speaking Immigrants

The adjective “Spanish-speaking” is used to limit the scope of this paper to immigrants from Latin American and the Caribbean from countries besides Brazil and others which had adopted official languages other than Spanish.  The reason why immigrant populations from Brazil , for example, are not included is because they tend to “come from middle- and upper-middle-class origins” and not identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino but simply “white” (Marrow, 2003).  Furthermore, as opposed to Latino and other Hispanic families, such as the professional class of Cuban-Americans, that have established at least two generations living in the country or immigrants with a high level of education, the scope will also be limited to first generation immigrants of working class origin because these comprise the majority of Latin American immigrants entering the United States today.  First generation immigrants, whether they arrive as single men working as day laborers to send money home or families or as single women and working mothers, have unique and common information needs and demographic characteristics.

The Public and Private Information Needs of First-Generation Immigrants

The most recurring public information needs of Spanish-speaking, often working-class immigrants tend to center on vocation, health, and education (Bala & Adkins, 2004).  Health issues, social agency and organizational information, immigration services, medical consultation, domestic concerns such as child-rearing, and consumer needs are more personalized, private information needs shared by many immigrants.  In a study of urban Mexican immigrant day laborers, many of whom did not have legal documentation, health and safety information, as well as basic and advanced English language instruction, were determined to be the main public information needs of these laborers for their own well-being and that of their families (Jenson, 2002).  In this situation, health concerns overlap with the sphere of public needs as these are more immediate in these laborers’ scope of performing heavy labor.

In study of rural factory workers in Missouri , some participants did not register any need for using a library while others acknowledged the usefulness of literacy and English instruction services in which they would partake in addition to more specific services such as research, education and computer instruction.  Many of them had attained only low levels of education in their home country and emphasized that such education-oriented services would benefit them in the long-run for securing better jobs and pay (Bala & Adkins, 2004).  More studies of immigrant personal information needs should be conducted on specific subpopulations, such as the laborers but also to include concrete demographic characteristics such as single people, children, senior-age people, etc. as well as interactions or combinations between these subpopulations.  Since it can be difficult to assess these through direct observation or intrusive study, researchers could also study their demographic characteristics more closely as well as the social, economic and political conditions the immigrants have left behind.

Demographic Characteristics of First-Generation Immigrants   

A 2006 report released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Citizenship, entitled Library Services for Immigrants: A Report on Current Practices,  states, “new immigrants are settling outside of traditional gateway cities where there are fewer resources to facilitate integration, such as English language instruction or citizenship preparation courses” (p.1).  As of 2005, over 40 million Hispanics reside in the U.S. , an increase of over five million from the 2000 population figures (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006).  Of these, it is estimated that about 16 million are first generation immigrants.  The following table provides a few other basic demographic characteristics of the Latin American born population residing in the U.S. according to the 2000 Census:

Figure 1. Latin American Immigrant Profiles in U.S. circa 2000

(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Special Tabulations STP-159)

The data reveal that immigrants tend to be generally adults in the transition from young to middle adulthood and that educational attainment is low.  Accordingly, public libraries can use the patterns revealed by this data to guide the development or refinement of services and programs for assisting immigrant adults and children. 

Barriers to the Use of Public Libraries by Latin American Immigrants

An often overlooked factor in the distance that Latin American immigrants tend to keep from the public library lies in their perceptions of governmental agencies, which the public library represents.  The section on abetting library outreach to immigrants in the Office of Citizenship (2006) report addresses this problem, stating that “some immigrants may be wary of public institutions because of personal experiences in their home countries or a lack of knowledge about government services in the United States” (p.4).  Other than a mistrust of public institutions from negative experiences in their home countries, Latin Americans have a different perception of information access and distribution they bring with them as well. 

Gonzalez (2001) defines these perceptions in a concrete manner for those who are unfamiliar with the conditions these immigrants often leave behind.  These perceptions are quite subtle.  She states:

Many Hispanics [immigrants] who are new to North Carolina are also new to our U.S. concept of a public library.  In Latin America, public libraries are almost exclusively used to pursue academic interests.  People who are not students or researchers rarely frequent bibliotecas, or libraries.  For popular reading it is much more common to patronize librerias, or bookstores, so people are more accustomed to the concept of buying books than borrowing them…[Also, these] people are hesitant to trust governmental sources of information, like libraries, as reliable institutions that protect individual privacy. (p.68)

Since Latin American immigrants leave behind political instability in some cases, they may be used to avoiding formal, voluntary interaction with government and agencies thereof due to mistrust and suspicion as well as a lack of documentation in other cases and the ensuing fear that library officials would act as extensions of immigration services.

The immigrants are often not aware of the library as the proper place to obtain much-needed information on health, social services, and so forth because there has previously been a low availability of resources and services in Spanish in much of the U.S. besides the Southwest and other regions with more concentrated Hispanic populations.  Even if the immigrants know about a library, “they may not see the relevance of library service to their lives” (Bala & Adkins, 2004, p.120).  Another barrier related to language relates to the reticence and reluctance of the immigrants, who are often very unfamiliar with English, to approach library staff unfamiliar with Spanish.

In addition to cultural barriers, physical isolation, often in the smaller cities and rural areas, can be another significant barrier to public library use by Latin American immigrants. A study of workers in rural Missouri revealed that they often “may be geographically isolated from the library [that is] too far away to walk to, and [they often lack] a car or a reliable system of public transportation” (Bala & Adkins, 2004, p.120).  The study also revealed that workers often found a conflict between their work hours and more limited library hours of operation common to rural areas.

Best Practices of Current Public Library Services to Immigrants

Many communities in the U.S. are experiencing a high influx of immigrants moving in that were historically not transition points for immigration.  Library systems in places with high or emerging immigrant populations that have already been providing a strong tradition of services to these populations serve as exemplary examples for libraries in these often smaller and rural communities to develop a fairly proactive response to the boom in immigration.  Two such examples are the Queens Borough Public Library and Austin Public Library.

Established in 1977, the New Americans Project (NAP) of the Queens Borough Public Library began offering English as a Second Language (ESL) classes during the 1980s to Spanish-speaking and a host of other immigrant groups; the library provides materials in Spanish and other languages including Greek, Italian, and Korean through a cooperative loan effort called the Books-By-Mail Service.  Other services include specific skills to function in American society and accessing electronic information resources in a foreign language such as Spanish (Jones, 2004). 

Austin Public Library (n.d.), in response to the rapidly growing Latin American immigrant population, created New Immigrants Centers at certain library branches, including the main central library.  These centers provide video, audio cassettes and computer software for independent ESL study, but library staff can also assist with these resources, such as with providing computer training to use the software.  Other general services are available more widely throughout Austin Public Library locations such as an English language conversation program called Talk Time, a Spanish Book Club, and links to other information resources and services through the New Immigrants Center website (see References).  

These two examples illustrate for other libraries attempting to adapt with a growing immigrant population.  Although these libraries have more limited funding and other resources than libraries in larger cities, they may still make progress in providing services to the Spanish-speaking immigrants with affordable means to meet their professional and personal information needs.  A general set of guidelines for developing services to these people offers useful ideas for such libraries.

General Guidelines for Developing Services to Spanish-Speaking Immigrants

While the main focus of some services are to aid Latin American immigrants in adjusting to contemporary American society, other services have directional objectives to connect them with information about various outside social and immigration services or simply provide a level of comfort and familiarity.  Libraries must closely examine the scope of budgeting, personnel management, and other hard library operational resources to ensure that new services are developed with feasible measures for effective operation.  When possible, libraries should apply for outside funding in the form of grants.

1. Hiring and training library staff

Employee recruitment and training is one important consideration.  Although the recruitment of minorities into librarianship has been an earmark of the profession, when it comes to recruiting Latinos, “progress has been slow and has not been consistent across the profession” (Echavarria, 2000, p.21).  Most library and information science graduates continue to be white, but as of 1993 the American Library Association’s Standards for Accreditation of Master's Programs in Library and Information Studies require that “the school has policies to recruit and retain a multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual student body from a variety of backgrounds” (Standard IV: Students, 2006, ¶1).  At the local public library management level, where the option to hire more librarians or paraprofessional staff of Hispanic descent who are comfortable with speaking Spanish is not readily available, training for current employees may prove far more efficient.

“Sensitivity” training may be used to instruct current library staff on crucial social differences and nonverbal communication involved in interacting with Latin American users of the library; providing basic Spanish instruction, especially on library terms and phrases related to information service, or incentives to employees for attending Spanish classes at a local community college may be considered as a necessary training expense, and volunteers with either a Hispanic background or experience working with Spanish-speakers could also be recruited (Moller, 2001).  Building liaison-type programs with local university or college student organizations that pertain to Latin American culture or activism is another option.  Volunteers for the library with a passionate interest in and understanding of serving immigrants may be recruited from these organizations.  Community-based programs with vested interests in immigration concerns may also be a highly useful source of not only volunteers or potential employees with suitable experience but funding as well.

2. Expanding library collections

Another method for improving services for Spanish-speaking immigrants relates heavily to the component of building and maintaining a sizeable collection of Spanish materials.  According to Echavarria (2000):

All Latino subgroups demonstrate a high demand for materials that keep them informed about their homeland.  Spanish language periodicals provide a lifeline to the Latino community that may not be available anywhere else but the library.  A significant aspect of the reading habits of Latinos is the emphasis on poetry and short stories.  These are read by Latinos of all education and income levels.  Information is need about survival to learn about and adjust to American society.  Of paramount importance are materials relating to immigration policy and citizenship.  Self-help books are sought on almost any topic. (p.20)

Acquiring enough materials of wide breadth and scope requires serious work in arranging the budget for purchasing these materials.  Of course, the availability and quality of many Spanish-language titles and serials (not to mention translations of original English titles) depends on the particular practices of both U.S. and Latin American publishers and vendors, as well as their general condition for distribution on the shelves once they arrive (Moller, 2001).  An option of attending book fairs offering Spanish-language materials, such as ones taking place annually in Mexico and ones within the United States, would enable librarians to personally select better quality monographs for both adults and children, provided the financial and organizational support is available.

Concerning children, this area of service contains a greater number of issues to consider.  Some basic guidelines for serving these young users entail having an understanding and patience for their perhaps having a louder noise level within the library and reluctance to open up with and trust library staff members for guidance due to the conditions they may have left behind along with having difficulty adjusting to a new culture; however, the needs of younger emerging readers are fundamentally no different than those of other children although they or their parents may prefer initial instruction and learning in Spanish over English to keep closely tied with cultural roots (Moller, 2001). 

Thus, having a collection of Spanish materials for children is just as vital as for adults, and “there seems to be more Spanish-language material for preschool and beginning reader age groups than any other, so finding books for the library should not be a problem” (Moller, 2001).  Materials facilitating in children learning English, especially those designed for the Spanish-speaking, are another sector of library materials to consider purchasing.  Having pre-school story hours targeted specifically to Spanish-speakers, guest storytellers, literacy and after-school tutoring programs and programming for the summer months (Moller, 2001) would also highly benefit these children in establishing new skills and social contacts with children of similar backgrounds.

3. Indirect forms of service

The physical space of the library itself merits attention for providing a more welcoming atmosphere for Latin American immigrants.  This is a more indirect or noninvasive form of library service to ensure that the immigrants may expediently locate materials or just browse through the collection with their children.  Building a sizeable collection of Spanish-language materials for adults and children will not have as much impact on attracting users without a user-friendly configuration and arrangement of these materials for access.  Bilingual signage well-placed within the library would also facilitate in improving user access as well as Spanish versions of the library’s computer catalog and website.  Another useful approach would be posting information in Spanish about local ESL classes and other resources at the information and referral station of the library (Moller, 2001).  These tactics would work well together in providing a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere for Latin American immigrants and their families.

4. Outreach

Common strategies of outreach include having library representation in local public events such as health fairs, celebrations of various community or historical events, especially those important to Latin American cultures, and distributing paper advertisements in the form of flyers and brochures at school parent-teacher conferences, churches and outside ESL or General Equivalency Degree (GED) classes (Moller, 2001).  The Office of Citizenship (2006) report also recommends many of these methods but goes a step further and advises library systems to “recruit immigrants to serve on the library board” (p.4) as well as develop partnerships with organizations and agencies that serve immigrants and can refer their clients to library services.  Another advantage of a partnership is that the library and organizations can share resources and cost for activities such as printing flyers.

Conclusion

Public libraries nationwide are faced with the singular challenge of serving recently arrived, mainly working-class Latin American immigrants who have generally kept a distance from libraries for a number of reasons.  This is especially significant and challenging in communities and rural areas that have not historically been the main areas of Latin American immigration such as the Southwest, Florida, Chicago and New York City .  The guidelines for providing a broad range of services serve as a focal point for developing and organizing library resources and services in smaller cities and rural areas with fairly new Latin American communities of immigrants.  Lastly, knowledge is they key to taking action and justifying such efforts with conviction before library boards and directors.  Internet Public Library has a great compilation of electronic resources under various subject headings for librarians and staff to learn more about Latin American culture, politics and economics as well as information about immigration issues to become better informed.

References

American Library Association. (2006). Standard IV: Students. In Standards for Accreditation of Master's Programs in Library and Information Studies. Retrieved December 1, 2006 from http://www.ala.org/ala/accreditation/accredstandards/standards.htm

Austin Public Library. (n.d.). The new immigrants centers. Retrieved October 22, 2006from http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/index.cfm?action=newip

Bala, B., & Adkins, D. (2004). Library and information needs of Latinos in Dunklin County, Missouri . Public Libraries, 43 (2), 119-122.

Cafferty, P.S.J. (2000). The language question. In P.S.J. Cafferty, D. W. Engstrom (Eds.), Hispanics in the United States (pp.69-95). New Brunswick, NJ : Transaction Publishers.

Echavarria, T. (2000). Recruiting Latinos to librarianship: A continuing need. In S. Güereña (Ed.), Library services to Latinos: An anthology (pp.18-27). Jefferson, NC : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

Gonzalez, L. (2001). Public libraries step up to the plate: Knowing and responding to the needs of our rapidly changing communities. North Carolina Libraries, 59(2), 68-71.

Marrow, H. (2003). To be or not to be (Hispanic or Latino): Brazilian racial and ethnic identity in the United States . Ethnicities, 3(4), 427-464.

McCook, K.D. (2004). Introduction to public librarianship. New York : Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

University of Michigan .  Latin America.  Internet public library. Retrieved November 27, 2006 from http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/rci45.00.00/

Jenson, B. (2002). Service to day laborers: A job libraries have left undone. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 41(3), 228-233.

Moller, S.C. (2001). Library services to Spanish-speaking patrons: A practical guide. Englewood, CO : Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

Office of Citizenship, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (2006). Library services for immigrants: A report on current practices. Retrieved October 22, 2006 from http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/Library_Services_Report.pdf

Plummer, Jr., A.J. (2004). Still struggling for equality. Westport, CT : Libraries Unlimited.

United States Census Bureau. (2006). American community survey. Retrieved October 22, 2006 from http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

Supplemental Resource Guide

1. WebJunction: http://webjunction.org

WebJunction is a great starting point for finding resources in working with the Spanish-speaking population.  The site offers a Spanish Language Outreach Program that consists of a number of topics related to providing library services to this particular population of users, including marketing and youth services.  Interested individuals can go through the entire menu of options available about background information to the program, case studies of outreach efforts different libraries have already made after staff participated in the program and a guide to library-related Spanish (in addition to links of outside electronic resources for librarians and staff to learn enough Spanish and serve these users).  Each section provides a list of resources each having a title and description with links to either a browser viewable format or downloadable Microsoft Word or PDF documents, as well as pre-made Microsoft Powerpoint presentations that may be used for training sessions and seminars.  In addition, Webinars are periodically available that are held as live real-time meetings that can be streamed via the Internet with specific instructions for configuration provided.  Another great resource is the WebJunction Pathfinder: Computer Training Resources for Spanish-Speaking Patrons found under the tab Services to Libraries.  Monthly updates are performed on the site, so be sure to check for new content.

2. REFORMA: http://www.reforma.org/

An affiliate of the American Library Association, REFORMA has grown to gain status as a “National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to
Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking” in its own right.  Aside from the organizational feel of the site, a number of resources are freely available to everyone.  The link to Children & YA Services directs a visitor to helpful Microsoft Word downloadable files for designing storytimes in both bilingual and strictly Spanish formats in addition to ideas for advertising and promotion.  A list of web resources for children also would serve a very useful purpose for children’s computer use.  Other library-specific resources under Resources and Public Statements and subsequently through clicking on Library Resources include guides for aiding librarian and staff use of Spanish and a tutorial for writing HTML in Spanish available through links to other websites or in downloadable format.  The list of U.S. Public Library websites with information in Spanish allows libraries to model a possible Spanish version of their website after established principles.

3. American Library Association: http://ala.org

Although there is a wealth of information available through this extensive website, a few helpful resources are found in the section Professional Tools and then by accessing the link Diversity.  The link Diversity Articles and Publications under the heading Publications leads to a rich listing of resources in print and online, of which many pertain to serving the Spanish-speaking.  Under Other Resources are two relevant links, ESL Resources for Librarians Serving Young Adults and Multicultural Resources for Young Adult Librarians that also lead to a variety of resources in different formats along with information about professional organizations, activities, and events.

4. Library Service to Day Laborers (Biblio/webliography):  http://www.sol-plus.net/jornaleros.htm

This website is a compilation of print and electronic resources with descriptive annotations about this specific group of the Spanish-speaking population.  Although this site has not been updated since 2002, the articles, chapters, entire books and web resources suggested for consultation would still assist librarians and staff in understanding these potential users of library services and their needs more in-depth.

5. PLUS (Public Libraries Using Spanish): http://www.sol-plus.net/plus/survspa/lib.htm

Affiliated with SOL (Spanish in Our Libraries), the PLUS website is particularly useful for the abundance of practical resources in the forms of handouts and other printed materials such as brochures that can be used as auxiliary tools for libraries.  The handouts cover in scope the main concerns of library operations including policy statements and card applications with an English to Spanish translation as well as guides to using the Internet in Spanish.  A link on the side menu leads to a Spanish translation of all the Dewey Decimal designations of library materials while another link actually provides sign templates and bookmarks for easy, convenient access and printing.

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