In this issue’s cover story, Pulitzer prize-winning author Junot Díaz recounts how the library helped him discover a world he wouldn’t have known otherwise and how for him, as an immigrant child, the library was a place—and a concept—he never could have imagined. Some Hispanics, like Díaz, who was newly arrived from the Dominican Republic, will dig right in and take advantage of everything the library has to offer. But many others remain strangers to the library, perhaps because they are never made aware of helpful library services because of a lack of library outreach efforts or bilingual staff, or a darker reality for some Hispanics, because they fear being identified as illegal immigrants.

When I went to school in Latin America, I remember going to the library often for school projects and having to do most of my work there, mostly a lot of photocopying because I couldn’t borrow the books. The librarians there weren’t very helpful either in assisting me to find enough of the right resources. If this type of experience is the norm, we can’t expect a new immigrant, struggling to make ends meet and potentially undocumented, who never stepped into a library in their own country, to come here and “get” our libraries. They are likely to be surprised to have library professionals offer free books for their children (and to be allowed to borrow those books), to read to their kids (often in Spanish!), and to provide free computer classes.

Yet librarians, as modeled in our feature story Se habla español, find a way to get through to these wary potential users. They persist until they make immigrants understand that they will not be policed in the library and that they can find help in obtaining the tools necessary to achieve their goals. And they persist in making them part of the community. But just as Latin Americans come to the library with some very different notions, so too do well meaning librarians miss the very real threats that some immigrants face in some parts of the country. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids continue to happen at many work places, and families are being destroyed by deportation and job loss. And though librarians understand that such disruption is difficult to prepare for, many agree that helping immigrants understand their rights is important and necessary.

One example is Kim Iraci, communications, advocacy, and outreach librarian for the Pioneer Library System (PLS), Canandaigua, NY, who actively sought to get a better sense of how large the Spanish-speaking community was by talking to community leaders and organizations. After confirming that it indeed was much larger than reported, librarians there tried to reach out to tell the Latino community of the library’s many services. On one occasion they went in a van to the local race track where Hispanic immigrants congregated to tell them about technology training at the library. They soon realized this wasn’t the best idea—ICE also shows up in vans. But the learning curve is part of the process, and ultimately the point about the library got across. Another example is the Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR, where librarians reacted to a survey that concluded Hispanics didn’t understand the library’s role. The library created an aggressive outreach program, conducted bilingual story time, and hired bilingual staff.

Many people across the country agree that it will take a bipartisan effort to provide services for the immigrant community to ensure they succeed and go on to raise productive members of society. Unfortunately, many others feel that undocumented immigrants should be punished regardless of consequences (such as being separated from their children). I believe the survival of our towns and cities depends on the survival of its members, all of them. Many of the librarians mentioned here act in this spirit, and we have many successful Hispanic immigrants, such as Díaz, to prove it. Their efforts must be models for those librarians, and patrons, still unaware.

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