Se habla español—How Librarians Are Overcoming the Language Divide
by Judith Rosen -- Críticas, 11/1/2008
As the Hispanic population continues to grow—Hispanics now comprise more than 15 percent of the U.S. population—more and more libraries across the country have begun reaching out to the Spanish speakers in their community. It’s not always easy, as those who started earlier have learned. In upstate New York, says Kimberly Iraci, communications, advocacy, and outreach librarian for the Pioneer Library System (PLS), Canandaigua, NY, many Hispanic migrant farm workers—some undocumented, others anxious about coming under scrutiny—are wary about being visible in public places. Others, she notes, lack transportation to get to the closest library, which may be eight to ten miles away.
Large urban library systems like the Fort Worth Public Library, TX, also have had to overcome challenges, especially when it comes to ensuring that their collections adequately reflect local needs. “A low estimate is that 30 percent of the people here speak Spanish,” says Kathryn King, adult materials selector. “We’re only at five percent of our budget [for Spanish-language books]. Ideally I’d like to see a correlation of one to one.” The downturn in the economy has also meant cuts in the library’s overall budget.
Limited resources or no, all eight libraries profiled here have found ways to become vital participants in the lives of their Spanish-speaking communities. They offer a wide selection of books, DVDs, and music in Spanish, as well as outreach programs, ranging from bilingual storytelling and ESL classes to visiting migrant day care centers.
Tulsa City-County Library
Tulsa, OK—central library, 19 branches, four regional libraries, and a general center
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Sara Martínez, coordinator of
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The Tulsa City-County Library Hispanic Resource Center. |
The library also produced a Spanish-language coloring book illustrated by local artists to teach children how to use the library. Of all the center’s accomplishments over the past decade, Martinez highlights a commitment to hiring Spanish-speaking staff. There are 20 bilingual staffers. Even the two bookmobile drivers speak Spanish.
Deschutes Public Library
Bend, OR—five branches
“Last year’s Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from Oregon State Library afforded us the staffing and time to concentrate on our still small but growing Hispanic population,” says Deschutes Public Library outreach services manager Josephine Caisse, who used the grant to increase outreach and to hire the first bilingual staff person for the library, which is located southeast of Portland.
At the same time, Caisse received instruction to become one of the state trainers for WebJunction’s Spanish Language Outreach program. “This was tremendously helpful in coordinating the LSTA grant project,” says Caisse. She was able to add more Spanish-language programs, like a National Hispanic Heritage Day that drew 500 people last year and an El día de los niños (Children’s Day) program, which attracted several hundred participants.
Although the area’s Hispanic population is only about five percent, Caisse is eager to do more. Last year, the library began conducting focus groups with Spanish-speakers to ask how the library could better serve them. As a result, Deschutes made some changes, including the addition of computer classes in Spanish and more books and DVDs on learning English. “It’s all about relationship building,” says Caisse. Quoting WebJunction master trainer Yolanda Cuesta, she adds, “Libraries need to start planning when the Hispanic population is small so the library will have their strategies in place.”
Pioneer Library System
Canandaigua, NY—42 member libraries in rural communities serving four counties
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“Before the initiative, the perception was we did not have the numbers to cater to Hispanic readers. Now we know the numbers are there,” says Iraci. The challenge now, she says, is getting “the word out that the library is a safe place and that the data we collect is confidential.”
Iraci has begun to see more Hispanic families using computer workstations. But most do not want to check out materials or get a library card, because they don’t want to show identification. With gas prices and delivery prices going up, she is concerned that the Spanish-language collections that PLS developed to rotate among its member libraries will have to stay permanently in one location. To counter these obstacles, she says, PLS may work with day care centers to make some Spanish-language materials available for extended loans.
Mount Vernon City Library
Mount Vernon, WA—stand-alone branch
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“Readers of all ages are looking to improve their English,” says Christilaw, who finds that the Inglés sin barreras (“English Without Barriers”) series is popular with all ages. While children’s picture books and basic concept books do well, middle-grade and YA fiction in Spanish is seldom checked out. That could change, she says, because the school district is in the midst of instituting a bilingual program for children in kindergarten through grade six.
Despite the strides the library has made in recent years, Christilaw says she still faces frustrations, mostly concerning the lack of time and qualified staff to do outreach. “It’s time-consuming and I’m not able to do as much as I would like,” she says, adding “my confidence in my Spanish is not strong enough to go out and do a lot of interacting.” Even so, she partners with the Skagit County literacy organization and visits ESL classes, parenting classes, and Head Start groups to talk about the library.
Denver Public Library
Denver, CO—central library, 22 branch libraries
According to 2000 census figures, Latinos make up 31.7 percent of the population in Denver, and the Denver Public Library (DPL) has responded with El centro (The Center), a Spanish-language section at the main library and with Spanish-language collections at seven branches.
Cluster Manager Pilar Castro-Reino, who is in charge of seven medium-sized branches, says that DPL already had a strong commitment to serving the Hispanic community when she was hired as a librarian 15 years ago. Since then, outreach to Spanish speakers has grown. “We are doing hundreds of programs,” she says. There’s a Spanish-language web site (
One of DPL’s key programs for Spanish speakers is Tu Biblioteca Hoy, or Your Library Today, which provides children’s programming as well as ESL classes, GED courses, and citizenship preparedness coursework for adults. In addition, the library offers classes on health and legal information in Spanish. To make immigrants more comfortable, a library card isn’t required to sign up for a course.
During the current economic downturn, Castro-Reino relies on grants, such as a three-year Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant for nearly $1 million to increase Spanish-language collections and even purchase laptops. “The only tough thing about that,” she says, “is that most grants don’t pay for staffing. It’s a bit of a Catch-22. You’re trying to administer them with very little staff.”
Las Vegas-Clark County Library District (LVCCLD)
las Vegas, NV—24 branches plus one to open in January; no central library
When Las Vegas-Clark County Library District (LVCCLD) instituted its first strategic service plan in 2000, it was so successful at boosting loans (up 93 percent), program attendance (up 20 percent), and customer service satisfaction (second out of 20 libraries surveyed) for both English and Spanish speakers that it was named the Gale/Library Journal Library of the Year in 2003.
Prior to 2000, LVCCLD’s Spanish-language collection was geared to ESL and citizenship. Since then, the library has added more popular books and movies in Spanish. As a result, circulation figures for Spanish-language materials continue to rise, up 12.7 percent for fiscal year 2007-08. Books with the highest circulation range from Rhonda Byrne’s El secreto (The Secret) to Thalía’s Thalía¡Belleza!: lecciones sobre el brillo labial y la felicidad (“Thalia: ¡Belleza! Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness”) and Inglés en 100 dias (“English in 100 Days”).
However, as collection development director Janice Passo notes, it wasn’t always easy to get contemporary Spanish materials. Not so long ago, attending the Guadalajara Book Fair offered librarians one of the few hands-on opportunities to select materials. The problem was compounded, adds adult collection development librarian Alexander Crosby, by U.S. publishers focusing on Cuban-centric books. “All Hispanics can’t be lumped together,” he says. “They have different interests in music and that transfers over to books.”
LVCCLD still helps Hispanic immigrants eager to learn English and to gain citizenship. Its students have the highest rate for passing citizenship tests in Las Vegas, according to Passo. Bilingual computer classes are also popular since many Spanish-speakers, she explains, find it easier to learn how to use the computer in Spanish, and translate those skills to their jobs.
Multnomah County Library
Portland, OR—central library, 16 branches, and two branches to open in 2009
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The library began aggressively reaching out to Spanish-speaking Latino children and their families a decade ago, introducing LIBROS, a Library Outreach in Spanish program, after a community survey revealed that Spanish speakers didn’t understand the role of the library, couldn’t communicate with staff, and couldn’t get to the library. During its first year, Multnomah began providing programming for families, created a collection of Spanish-language and bilingual books, and started a summer reading program. Since then, the library has increased the number of bilingual (Spanish/English) employees from one in 1998 to more than 30 in 2008.
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As part of its outreach, Multnomah partners with local media, such as Univision, to promote library services and events like El día de los niños/El día de los libros. It also sends staffers on visits to schools, migrant summer camps, the city’s day-worker site, low-income apartment complexes, and day care centers.
Fort Worth Public Library
Fort Worth, TX—central library, two regional libraries, ten branches, and two satellite facilities in public housing complexes
“We still have a ways to go before our collection adequately reflects our community,” says Fort Worth Public Library’s King. “But we have made a strong commitment to achieving that goal.” Given the strong Hispanic presence in Fort Worth—57 percent of public school students last year self identified as Hispanic—she would like to see the materials budget increase dramatically for Spanish speakers.
This year’s funding for Spanish-language materials was at five percent of the library’s materials budget, or $123,000. Before 2003, when the library surveyed Hispanic users and held focus groups for long-range planning, the Spanish-language budget was just $50,000. However, this year’s figure is lower than a previous high of $137,000 in 2003-04, because of overall budgetary cutbacks.
As King makes clear, programming was not cut. The library continues to offer Conozca su corazón, a multi-week bilingual heart health program from the American Heart Association; one-on-one ESL tutoring; AARP bilingual tax help; and Club de mamás, weekly instructional classes for non-English-speaking stay-at-home mothers.
In addition to increasing spending for Spanish-language materials and programming, the 2002 surveys also prompted library managers to ensure that the collection focuses on best sellers and topical titles for all patrons. Since her hiring in April 2006, says King, “I try to buy a lot of popular fiction and best sellers, just like we do for English.” Nonetheless, Ingles sin Barreras English-learning kits continue to dominate the library’s top 100 titles for Spanish speakers, as do nonfiction books on cooking and health. Only two novels were among the top 50 Spanish-language titles: Pablo Coehlo’s La bruja de portobello (The Witch of Portobello) and Carlos Cuauhtémoc Sánchez’s Contraveneno (“The Antidote”).
| Author Information |
| Judith Rosen, a correspondent for Publishers Weekly and former bookseller, has written about book business for more than a decade. |
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