Immigrant Nation—How Librarians Select Materials for Non-English Speakers

by Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 9/1/2008 8:59:00 AM

In its September 1 issue, Library Journal takes a closer look at how public libraries are selecting materials to better serve non-English-speaking patrons in LJ book review editor Barbara Hoffert’s “Immigrant Nation.” Hoffert draws attention to an August 14 story, in which the New York Times reported that ethnic and racial minorities will likely be a majority of the U.S. population by 2042. “Currently, the foreign born make up about 12 percent of the population, but the guess is that by 2025 they will make up 15 percent, surpassing a high-water mark set in 1910,” wrote Hoffert. “And they won't all be speaking English, at least not right away.”

According to LJ’s 2008 book-buying survey of public libraries, fully 50 percent of respondents serving populations of 10,000 or more and almost all respondents serving populations of 100,000 or more have world-language collections. Among world languages, Spanish is of course the most important to U.S. public libraries; in the survey, 98 percent of libraries with non-English holdings included Spanish in their lineup.

Hoffert states that both librarians and the vendors that serve them cite Spanish as one of the two or three top-circulating languages, and demand just keeps growing. “[T]he demand for Spanish has not come close to peaking, based on birth rates, immigration, and interest in doing business overseas,” affirms Larry Bennett, Baker & Taylor's (B&T) VP of Spanish-language materials and print on demand.

The article includes anecdotes about how librarians across the country have addressed the non-English-speaking patrons’ needs, as well as a list of materials available in the world’s languages.