Case Study: "¡Soy Culto!"

Another relevant case study from Library Services for Multicultural Patrons: Strategies to Encourage Library Use highlights the outreach experience of the Orange Country Library System in Orlando.  Of the 1.1 million residents of the region in central Florida, 26.9% of the population was Hispanic.  In 2010, the library system received an IMLS grant to improve their Spanish-language services.  Here are some highlights of how they spent the funds:

Materials Acquisition (67% of the funds awarded)

In terms of collection development, they added books, media, databases, and software to their collection.  The system purchased "playaway" players with Spanish-langauge audiobooks loaded onto them, as well as over 600 digital titles to be added e-collection.  They also subscribed to a Spanish-language version of Freegal called "Freegal Música Gratis," (which received very low use, so they ended up returning to the regular subscription to the English version).  In terms of ESL materials, they bought the highly recommended Ingles sin barreras program and the Words for Work series, and in terms of job seeking resources, they subscribed to the Career Cruising database.  And finally, to guide patrons in the use of these resources, the library created a "user-interest page" to gather information about and links to the new materials.

Patron Resource Education

In order to get the word out about the new Spanish-language services they were offering, the library developed the "¡Soy Culto!" or "I am Cultured" campaign, which featured slogans like "Yo soy músico.  Y la biblioteca es mi DJ" ("I am a musician, and the library is my DJ!") and "Yo soy Bilingüe.  ¡Y mi biblioteca también!" (I am bilingual, and my library is too!).  Promotional materials featured actual library employees.  They also developed a texting service to update patrons about library events, which was advertised on buses and through Spanish-language newspapers and radio stations. 

 Focus Groups to "Identify Barriers to Service"

With the help of a local business development consultant, the library surveyed 228 residents of the library service area, and then invited 13 of those individuals to attend a special focus group.  Here are some of the takeaway points from those interactions:

• Even though many members of the population speak English, there is a greater sense of community and connection when Spanish is used.
• "Free time" is often a limited and valued commodity dedicated to "family time."  Library programming was competing with outdoor activities.
• Word of mouth plays a huge role in getting people into the library.
• Teens who are "forming lifestyle patterns" and younger children can act as "ambassadors" for the library.  (Similar to Ashley Ansah's observation in Des Moines)

ESL classes

The library partnered with the University of Central Florida to develop ESL classes.  In the process of designing the classes, educators completed an analysis of what was already being taught in existing ESL classes at local schools.  They found that many adults had already completed classes that developed English skills that were sufficient for basic daily interactions, but they still lacked the vocabulary necessary for post-secondary education, promotion at work etc.  Program designers developed these new ESL classes to better meet those needs.

Through the overall implementation process, the library system learned some important takeaway lessons that we can all benefit from including:

• Don't just translate library material, instead "trans-create" it.  A slogan in English often doesn't have the same cleverness etc. when directly translated.  Shape campaigns around the culture and language.
• Using staff members in promotional materials proved quite successful.  Members of the community were able to come in to the library and see employees that were already familiar to them through the ads, feeling as if they were "their" library workers.
• By focusing on family programming rather than just "adult" or "children's," the library was able to increase attendance and attract larger groups to their events.  A "Superhero Saturday" event was particularly popular, with many adults as eager as the children to meet the costumed characters from the local comic-book store.
• Despite the many hours of time investment, including outside homework, the ESL classes were always at full enrollment, due a great part to word of mouth advertising and the fact that the library marketed the University developed program as "a free course that was worth paying for ."
• Besides the low use of the Spanish-language version of Freegal, the texting service was the other failed experiment.  As we saw in the "Digital Divide" statistics from the Pew Hispanic Trends Project, Latinos are well-connected in terms of mobile phones, and the library approached their advertising strategy with those numbers in mind.  Unfortunately, sign-up rates for the texting advertising service were quite low.  Instead the library found out that old-fashioned person-to-person contact, especially with a teacher leading a group, was much more effective.