Study of Latinos and Libraries Suggests Ways To Draw More Users

by Norman Oder, Library Journal -- Críticas, 9/15/2008 9:00:00 AM

More Latinos than previously assumed use public libraries in the United States, according to a new study, Latinos and Public Library Perceptions, sponsored by WebJunction in partnership with 40 state libraries and conducted by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI). It also recommends how to draw more Latinos to libraries. [The report defines the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” as interchangeable and use both to “denote individuals who can trace their heritage back to Spanish-speaking countries in the Western Hemisphere.”—Ed.]

Latinos are now the country’s largest ethnic minority. A previous study by the American Library Association estimated Latino library use at 49 percent; the new study, based on a more representative sampleof 2,860 Latino adults, reports 54 percent. Specifically, 1 percent reported daily visits, 11.2 percent reported weekly visits, and 17.8 percent reported monthly visits. Also, 9.7 percent reported visits every other month and 14.1 percent said they went to the library once or twice a year. However, 23.6 percent said they last went to a library more than a year ago and 22.5 percent said they’d never been to a library.

While Latinos in the United States generally hold positive perceptions of libraries and value the availability of Spanish-language materials, more important is service. Latinos and Public Library Perceptions recommends that library workers get to know the local Latino community, to understand demographic diversity. Also, advertising in Spanish or via Spanish-language media should stress that the library is a place to learn English, via English-learning materials and children’s programs. (Nearly 47 percent of Latinos with less than a high school education had never been to a library.)

Since only 47 percent of Latinos who use the library for Internet access have such access at home or work, the availability of public access computers should be stressed. Finally, given that foreign-born Spanish-speakers—about half the adult Latino community—may worry that libraries reveal personal information, the report advises libraries to stress confidentiality in library public relations materials and also in Spanish-language signs and posters.

The challenge of diversity
The report acknowledges that “the sheer density of diversity among Latinos makes library outreach a potentially unwieldy effort.” While Mexican-Americans are the largest group of Latinos, representing about roughly 70 percent of the Latino population in the United States, there are three major sub-groups: new immigrants, established residents who have followed the rural-urban flow to major metropolitan areas, and internal migrants.

As with the larger population, frequency of Latino library visits is affected by sex, age, income, and education level; however, for Latinos, other factors include birthplace, generation in this country, and language preference. The strongest predictor of library visits among Latinos is English fluency.

Reasons to visit
Why do Latinos go to the library? Borrowing movies or music were the top reasons. Learning English was more of an influence than reading or borrowing books. Other strong lures were using the computer and taking children to the library.

First-generation immigrants disproportionately reported never attending the public library, according to the report, and second-generation immigrants, born in the United States to foreign-born parents, disproportionately reported going to the library less than once a year.

Report authors
The authors of the report were Edward Flores and Harry Pachon; the latter is the president of the TRPI, while the former is a research fellow with the TRPI, an independent, non-partisan think tank based at the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. The institute is named after Tomás Rivera (1935-84), a Chicano author, poet, and educator, the first Mexican-American to become chancellor at a branch of the University of California (in his case, Riverside).

Contributing to the Latinos and Public Library Perceptions project was a preliminary survey advisory board members, consisting of the following librarians: Camila Alire, Loida García-Febo, Ivonne Jimenez, Roxana Benavides, John Ayala, and Toni Bissessar.