Spanish-services Assessment at Madison Public Library's Goodman Branch

As I have mentioned before, I am doing my practicum at the Goodman Branch of the Madison Public Library, which has one of the most diverse user-bases in the MPL system.  The Burr Oaks neighborhood, which surrounds the library, is around 34% Latino, and the library has a decent Spanish-language collection, and multiple staff people speak Spanish.  I had the opportunity to do a mini-review of the Spanish-language services offered by the Branch, which was a great way to apply what I have been learning through the course of this independent study project to a real library-world situation.  I produced three documents associated with the project: a resource guide of Spanish-language services offered in the greater South Madison area, a “mini-analysis” of the circulation statistics for the Adult World Language collection, and a list of service recommendations for the library itself.

Thinking of the advice about community assessment from Library Services for Multicultural Patrons: Strategies to Encourage Library Use, I started off by mapping out all the existing community assets, looking to community centers and other organizations that share values and goals with the library.  There are actually a large number of community resources in the South Madison area, particularly in the direct vicinity of the library itself; the Goodman branch is located in the Villager Shopping Center, along with Urban League, MATC-South, Dane County Public Health, Access Community Health Center, Madison WIC Program, Neighborhood Law Center, and Planned Parenthood (to name a few). The area is almost like a strip mall of non-profits and government resource centers. The most effective community engagement happens when a library is able to partner with other organizations already active in the area, strengthening the work each partner is doing, rather than overlapping and repeating services. One important thing I quickly realized as I complied my list of services, was that my list could function as a reference document, as I had witnessed staff members trying to remember exactly what services were offered by what organizations in the area on more than one occasion. So at that point, I changed directions a bit and formatted my list differently, adding contact information along with a brief summary of the offerings of each group. I also added a section for Spanish-language church services and media outlets, as I have learned the importance of both traditional and non-traditional "information grounds" where information passes through the Latino community.

In my analysis of the usage trends of the World Language Collection, I was particularly interested to see how well the data matched up with the Spanish-language collection development tips I had come across. For example, Paolo Coelho and Corín Tellado, two authors who were specifically mentioned in the Fiction recommendation section of an essay I had read on Spanish-language collection development (Martínez, S. [2012]. Collection Development for the Spanish Speaking. In Ayala, J. & Güereña S. [Eds.], Pathways to Progress: Issues and Advances in Latino Librarianship [pp. 7-17]. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC), both topped the list of most circulated items in the Goodman collection. On the non-fiction side of things, many of the most popular topics (health, spirituality, family/pregnancy) also matched the DDC list the same article. And just like René had mentioned in our conversation yesterday, most translations of popular English-language best-sellers like Water for Elephants or The Help were among the least circulated items.

When making my overall recommendations for action, I was guided by what I now consider to be the essential Spanish-language outreach resource: Susannah Mississippi Byrd’s ¡Bienvenidos! ¡Welcome!: A Handy Resource Guide for Marketing Your Library to Latinos.  I took multiple hints from Byrd's book, from big-idea programming suggestions like organizing a Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros children’s book celebration to little details like adding “gratis/free” to promotional material. As previously mentioned, I felt that the collection was fairly well developed, but I did make one recommendation: that the library adds fotonovelas to their collection, which was only reinforced by talking to René about her collection at Hedburg!

As this will be my last post, I want to close with an anecdote. During my time at the branch I was able to see the value of actively promoting Spanish-services first hand. I had the opportunity to assist with a four-week bilingual early literacy storytime program series called Contando Cuentos, and it was impressive to watch the attendance numbers grow as word passed through the Latino community and more families came each week. One mother approached us after class to show her appreciation. She hadn’t seen the series advertised, but was drawn over after hearing Spanish being spoken from across the library. She had been bringing her children to the library for their whole lives, but she was always disappointed that there was no children’s programming in Spanish, as her youngest boy had not learned English yet. She even volunteered to do whatever she could to help out with the program. That first week we were sad to tell her that Contando Cuentos was only a four-week series, but on the last day, we were pleased to be able to tell all the families that the library would be continuing the series with an eight-week session in the fall. Our attendance numbers finally convinced library management: there was a definite need for Spanish-language children’s programming at the Goodman Branch! The library has now taken another step towards active community engagement, helping to promote linguistic diversity and “library faith” in another generation of library users.

I look forward to taking everything I have learned through this independent study forward with me in my future professional career, always acting as an advocate for the Spanish-speaking community's information needs!

Hedberg Public Library Visit: Programming and Outreach

So, let me start off this post by saying that René has my perfect job.  She makes her own schedule, spending about 50% of her time in the library and the other 50% out in the community.  She is on multiple committees (the School District of Janesville's Diversity Committee and their Dual Immersion School committee, downtown business district, etc.) and tables at many community events.  Here are are an assortment of highlights from our conversation about the other aspects of her job beyond collection development:

• School Partnerships: True to the essay I read earlier in the summer , public school ESL teachers are one of her most important contacts; every year they send her a list of the ESL students by nationality, which is one way she gets an idea of the shifts in the demographic make-up of Janesville's Spanish-speaking population.
• PR: Don't just hang a poster somewhere.  Talk to the manager and the employees, tell them about the program.  Information spreads most efficiently through the Latino community by word of mouth; they'll tell others!
• Documentation for Library Cards:  When she arrived at the library a few years ago, René was influential in changing the policies of the library system so any photo ID could be used (along with proof of address) when applying for a library card.  Now all staff are trained in how to "read" identification cards from Mexico and Latin America, which has removed a huge access barrier for immigrant populations across the county.
• Bilingual Storytime:  At first René offered a monthly bilingual storytime, but when she talked to Latino parents she realized that the majority were happy to bring their children to the regular storytime and expose them to English, and many told her that they didn't feel a separate bilingual session was necessary.  Every community is different; and all she had to do was ask!
• REFORMA/ALA: One of the most important career development tips René gave me was to make myself known at conferences and to make sure to stay active in groups like REFORMA.  She said that she goes to the conferences now and when she meets new people they say "oh you're René!"  Plus, it gets you places: This year she was recommended by a publisher for an ALA grant, offered to only 25 librarians each year, to go to Liber, the International Book Festival held in Spain.

We spent the last hour of my visit putting on the summer reading program, "hosted" by a different librarian each week.  We read Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales, which was just awarded this year's Pura Belpré award at ALA a few weeks ago.  The book was a great example of multicultural children's literature done well.  The main character, Niño, imagines himself lucha libre wrestling all sorts of different tropes from Mexican folklore like La Llorna.  René read the book with wonderful dramatics and they were all enthralled.

Afterwards, they got to make their own lucha libre masks (René got templates online from the book website) and we all marched out to the mirror in the children's area so they could see their handiwork.  We also had a mini-raffle for the book posters and a copy of the book she had brought back from ALA, and even we did a quick lesson in Spanish numbers when we read off the winning tickets. An all-around success!

Spending the day at Hedberg and seeing so many things I had read about coming together has only made me more excited about the possibilities of a future career as a Spanish-language librarian!

Hedberg Public Library Visit: Collection Development

Yesterday I took a trip down to Janesville, WI, an hour's drive or so from Madison.  I had made contact with René Bue earlier in the summer about coming to the Hedberg Public Library to shadow her for the day.  I first met René when she came to talk to the UW campus chapter of REFORMA about her position as Bilingual Outreach Coordinator.  Her passion for her work really inspired me then, so I was glad that I had the chance to reconnect with her this summer.

We started out the day by walking through the collection and chatting about collection development tips.  It was great to see so many of the concepts I had read about over the summer in action!  Here is a list of some of her major points:

• Children's Collection:  
• René said she has steered away from buying translations of English children's books, especially series like "Fancy Nancy" because as she said it, "Latinos don't know who Fancy Nancy is!"  Not to mention that many of the translations are poor quality...  In both the adult collection and the children's collection, she tries to buy a representative sample of authors that reflect the demographic makeup of the community.  
• René said that the Pura Belpré Awards and Americás Award are great jumping off places, and she loves the titles they choose, but her concern is that they are choosing the same authors year after year, rather than encouraging lesser known writers.  But she said that the Latino Book Awards are starting to fill that gap, fortunately.  
• As she mentioned multiple times throughout our interaction, René talked about the importance of "knowing your community" (which may be the number one take away message I get from my MLS education!) in terms of the children's collection.  A new Spanish immersion program will begin in a few years at one of the elementary schools, and she knew that teachers would be referring their students to the public library collection, as the Spanish school library collections in the city are notoriously lacking.  So, she said that with that in mind, she will stray from her usual collection development "rules" by adding more translations of series like "Fancy Nancy" and other popular English language titles, since she was predicting that the immersion school students and their parents would appreciate seeing more familiar titles that they could cross-reference with the English versions.  
• The children's collection also contained a small music section, with the ever popular José Luis Orozco, who has many albums of fun folkloric and educational songs. 
• Adult Collection:  
• Since the library has moved towards a "neighborhood" organization, where all the forms of media related to a topic are displayed, all Spanish AV, Fiction, Periodicals, and Non-fiction are located at the front of the library.  Sidebar: René mentioned that location is key; the collection should be have prominent signage and be easily visible when walking into the library.  When she first started her job, she specifically separated out all the original language Spanish films for display in the Spanish section, and their circ stats jumped.  There is also a "community resource center" display next to the collection with Spanish-language brochures for local organizations and copies of Spanish-language newspapers.
• In terms of AV, she has multiple sets of the "Sin Barreras" series, which I had come across many times in my reading as an ESL resource that many Latinos trust and are familiar with. She said they are especially popular.  
• I have been intrigued by fotonovelas ever since I wrote a post about them earlier in the summer, and it was cool to see a collection in action; she has a subscription with Latin American Periodicals  and they send her new titles each month (she tries to keep has six months worth of each title on display at a time).  When I mentioned what I had read about controversies in other libraries, she said that she has only had a few complaints about the sometimes "scandalous" covers but nothing too major.  
• One of the most import take away points I got from our time in the adult section was the fact that René emphasized that the fiction collection should never be as large as the non-fiction, unless your library is located in a large city.  The fiction section at Hedburg is about half the size of the non-fiction, which she feels is a good balance for the community. In terms of her buying guidelines, she rarely buys anything over 400 pages.
• She has found that Latinos usually don't rely on the catalog in the library, instead they browse.  So she changed the top rows of the non-fiction shelving to face-out display, which has increased circ of many items.

And then we adjourned to a meeting room to talk more in depth about policies and programming...

Organizing Spanish-Language Items

After selecting Spanish-language items, obviously they need to be properly organized as they are added to the library collection.  To explore this topic I read an article entitled "Use of the Spanish Language in Organizing Library Materials for Latinos," which is part of the Library Services to Latinos anthology.  The article provided a good foundation for the display and cataloging of Spanish-language materials.  Highlights include:

• Spanish-language materials can either be inter-filed with the general collection or housed separately.  Separate collections facilitate browsing and show that the library is actively considering the population's information needs.  Bilingual materials can be a part of either the Spanish or English collection.
• Organization can be determined by local criteria and shelved base on:
• Where the item is most needed.
• The language of the intended audience (best for second language instruction material).
• The language of the first or most prominent part of the title (in terms of bilingual materials).
• A separate collection of materials by or about Latinos, regardless of language.
• Which section it was specifically ordered for by the collection developer.
• AV: Use Spanish in the bibliographic access for items with original dialog in Spanish.
• Labels: Both users and shelvers should be able to identify an item at a quick glance.
• Label items bilingually with bright colored stickers.
• Language designations on labels should be underlined with a yellow highlighter.
• Bilingual items should be labeled as such.
• Policies and Procedures: Should clearly define the hierarchy of call numbers, the vocabulary used on call number labels, and the designation of the main entry mark.
• When an author has two surnames, shelvers should be sure to shelve the item by the first surname.
• Spanish-language flyers and/or posters explaining DDC should be made available.
• Bibliographic records should be available in Spanish.  The availability of Spanish subject headings increases independence in terms of patron access.  A "notes" section in Spanish is especially important if your OPAC provides keyword search access.
• The Oakland Public Library and the San Francisco Public Library have developed an extensive list of around 1,500 Spanish-language equivalents of Library of Congress Subject Headings.
• There should be bilingual online instructions for OPAC use.

Although technical services are not my area of interest, this article was particularly enlightening for me in thinking about how difficult it would be to catalog an item if you didn't speak the language.  Since I'd like to work in a smaller library, I have a feeling that I would end up taking on many more job aspects as a Spanish-language services librarian, from storytime, to adult programming, to collection development, to some aspects of cataloging.  So, obviously it is important to be aware of the issues surrounding the organization of the materials I will be managing and promoting!

RUSA Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Multilingual Collections and Services

After all of my outside reading, it was interesting to read something that actually detailed the "official" professional stance on multicultural and multilingual services.  Although RUSA's guidelines highlight many of the same concepts as my other readings, they don't really give you too much guidance about how to best reach those desired levels of services; I can now see how important it is for individual librarians to have to keep with the latest resources and literature relating to Spanish-language services.  I'd say that overall, these are just that: "guidelines," when really so much more goes into properly providing these services.

The guidelines are introduced through the frame of the Library Bill of Rights: providing "equitable levels of service" to members of all linguistic and cultural communities is a responsibility of all libraries.  These services should not seen as "additional" or "extra," instead they should be seamlessly incorporated into a library's daily functioning.

Selection: 

• Should be based on community analysis, census data, focus groups etc.  
• Should include a wide cross-section of subjects, genres, time periods etc. of interest to the target community, in both English and their native language.

Formats:

• Make a variety of formats available in the community's preferred language.
• Make literacy materials and language learning materials available, including ESL materials for specific language backgrounds.

Bibliographic Access:

• Cataloging should be done in the original language of the item.
• Bibliographic access should be provided in both English and the original language.

Physical Access:

• Multilingual collections should be housed separately and visibly.
• Make sure there is sufficient multilingual signage.
• All major library forms should be translated.

Collection Maintenance:

• Multilingual collections should be analyzed on a regular basis like any other collection.
• Don't hold materials to the same physical standards as other collections: bindings and paper quality are often not equal to those of materials published in the US or Canada.
• Special measures should be taken to preserve original materials relating to and produced by the target community.
• Demand shouldn't be used as a sole determining factor for collection development.

Programs, Services etc.:

• Services should be held to the same standards as those for the general public.
• Consider additional factors such as various subcultures, various degrees of bilingualism, the retention of linguistic identity, and the level of assimilation.
• Provide multilingual "mirror sites" for the library website
• Provide multilingual services for those who aren't able the visit the library: the housebound etc.
• Provide multilingual ILL services.
• Provide multi-lingual bibliographic instruction.
• Provide multi-lingual reference services, as well as information about local multilingual and multicultural resources.
• Bring library outreach to non-library spaces that are familiar to the target community.
• Form "non-traditional" partnerships with media, social service agencies, and other community organizations that serve the target population. 

Staffing: 

• Employ multilingual staff.
• Provide staff development surrounding multilingual services.
• Actively recruit multilingual and multilingual individuals to the library profession.

Collection Development

These past few days I spent some time looking into collection development issues and resources.  I started my exploration with an article from a 2003 issue of Public Libraries about Spanish-language collection development, which pointed me towards a bunch of valuable resources.  Here are some highlights from the article:

• Although the market is expanding now, there have been many challenges to Spanish-language collection development.  The publication market only really became aware of the Spanish-language market in the 1990's, and early on it was plagued by poor translations, use of non-standard Spanish, and poor binding and paper quality.  There has also been a general lack of bibliographic data and copy cataloging, which poses a challenge for libraries without bilingual staff.  As we see with the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign here has also been a historic lack original language children's materials being published; instead there has been more of a focus on translating popular English language titles in to Spanish.  There are also often bottlenecks in distribution and marketing, so material selectors should thoroughly investigate a source before making purchases.
• I have come across this frustration twice now: this article also raved about the same two collection resources that, after extensive googling and broken links, I am fairly sure no longer exist: Criticas and the Barahona Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents.
• In terms of adult collection, the author recommends against dealing directly with foreign-based publishing companies, instead choose several "acquisitions partners" based on selection, service, and speed. 
• That said, don't expect the same promptness you would with other vendors. 
• Fortunately, major companies like Baker and Taylor are coming on to the scene and making selection easier.

Besides listing many acquisition resources, the article specifically mentioned looking to the
RUSA Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Multilingual Collections and Services as a good jumping off point, so, as a natural progression, my next post with detail that resource.

Immigrant Politics and the Public Library

Over the past few days I've spent some time with Immigrant Politics and the Public Library, edited by Susan Luévano-Molina.  The book is a collection of essays about library services to immigrants and the politics and public opinion surrounding immigration.  The text highlights many of the ways a library can act as a "neutral community resource" that provides a source of social and cultural capital for newly arrived immigrants. I skimmed most of the chapters since a lot of the writing dealt with California's Proposition 187, a piece of mid-1990's anti-immigrant legislation.  However, two of the essays, both dealing with Santa Ana, CA, were particularly enlightening:


"Mexican/Latino Immigrants and the Santa Ana Public Library: An Urban Ethnography"

Basically, the significance of this study was the fact that it confirms the role of public libraries as "mediating sites of learning and cultural acquisition" for immigrant populations.  As of the date of the survey (1996) Santa Ana had one of the highest concentrations of Spanish speakers in the state and 75% of the students in the school district spoke limited English.  The community had been deeply affected by "white flight" in the 1970's and kinship patterns continued to draw entire families and even whole communities to the area from Mexico.  City policy tended towards ignoring the immigration status of residents.  The authors of the study set out to document immigrant interaction with the public library, asking open-ended questions of 50 Spanish speakers in schools, markets, on street corners etc.  All interviews were conducted within three miles of a public library access point.  The fact that a donut shop ended up being the most successful site only confirmed what I had previously read about the importance of seeking out the key "information grounds" for the community.  Here were some of the results:

• Even though around half of respondents had never used the library, general impressions of the library were overwhelmingly positive, many describing it an almost "Utopian institution."
• The researchers were surprised by the respondents descriptions of high library use in their home countries.
• The authors comment that this is most likely tied to the growth of the Mexican library system in the 1980s.
• 36% of respondents had library cards, which is much higher the estimated 10-28% for the whole city population.
• Households with children were most likely to use the library.
• A quote from one of the respondents: "It makes me so happy that my children are anxious to go the library. We go once a week.  They can't wait!  The kids have an opportunity to study and to enjoy learning.  It is a time when the whole family can be together and relax in a pleasant environment."
• Main library uses: life-long learning, recreation, children's homework assignments
• Many described anxiety about asking for help at the library, which the authors associated with a general sense of apprehension surrounding public institutions. 

In general, the most important conclusions that the author drew from the study were the following:

• With the expansion of libraries in many other countries, there is a trend towards the creation of a "transnational migrant library user" profile.
• Libraries are one public institution where Latino immigrants view themselves as inter-connected with the larger community rather than a isolated population.
• Public libraries can effectively help immigrants transition from "sojourner to settler."

"Passport to Promise: Public Libraries as Intellectual Spaces for Immigrant Students":

This chapter, based on the results of two studies of Latin, discusses the role that public libraries can play in the development of "cultural citizenship."  New immigrants live within their own "small word" but through proper outreach and service development, libraries have the potential to connect those populations with greater information networks.  Here were some interesting highlights from the two studies discussed:

• Many of the students in the study found the public library to be more accessible than their school library, especially since they could visit the library with their entire family.
• The library was seen positively as a "neutral space" safe from the anxieties of gang activity
• In general, mastery of the English language was seen as a "passport to promise."

This authors went on to make some general suggestions for library best practices:

• Libraries should act as a hub of socialization for all levels, young to old.
• Central location and proximity to other social services greatly increase accessibility.
• Libraries can act as an important "free space."  According to Harry Boyte, political scientist and community organizer, "For democracy to work, communities need free spaces, where the public and private realms come together.  Here citizens can work for individual and common goods rather than simply being served by government employees or focusing on private gain."

I want to close this blog post by quoting a high school student originally from Guerrero, Mexico, a respondent in one of the student surveys:  "Yes, unfortunately it's true... I am an illegal.  But here I have everything necessary to survive in this country: my school ID, my green card, and my library card!"  Now that's saying something; the library as a survival tool!