Hispanic Heritage Month—Innovative Programming to Engage Spanish Speakers

by Raya Kuzyk -- Críticas, 7/15/2006

“The familiar parking lot ceased to be a place in Blue Island,” says Deb Beasley, children’s services librarian at Blue Island PL, IL, in reference to the library’s Mexican Independence Day celebration last year, which drew a crowd of more than 300. “The sounds, the food, the people…. I felt as though I’d been transported to a town in Mexico.”

As of May 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau ranks Hispanics as the largest minority group at 42.7 million. It is also the fastest growing. With Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15–Oct. 15) around the corner, festivities across the country are in the works. Críticas talked to librarians in states where Hispanic populations number one million or more (CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, AZ, and NJ) to share the programs they’re planning to engage this emergent community.

A special lineup

“Thirty-three percent of our populace is Mexican,” says librarian Dan Carroll, who coordinates all the publicity and event programming for the Blue Island PL. “We take Hispanic Heritage Month very seriously.” This is not to say there won’t be clowns involved—a bilingual two-person Pocket Circus from Argentina will be staging an outdoor performance. The library will also host a month-long tribute to Hispanic film stars, with Hispanic Chicago author, poet, and film expert Dr. Beatriz Badikian-Gartler presenting the program “Myths, Types & Stereotypes: Latinos in Hollywood.” The children’s department will feature Hispanic authors and crafts in its weekly pre-school story hours, including a session for older children (grades one to five) devoted to Salvadoran author René Colato Lainez’s Playing Loteria/El juego de la loteria. On Sept. 15, the eve of Mexican Independence Day, local folk dancers will perform at the library, and a performance by the Chicago mariachi ensemble Mariachi Acero will conclude the Hispanic Heritage Month festivities in October.

It’ll be the Cha-Cha for the Foothills branch of the Glendale PL, AZ, along with instrumental performances. California’s Upland PL will host the dance troupe Danza Azteca Xochipilli, which will demonstrate the dance, music, and instruments used by the Aztec people while in authentic headdresses and regalia. Similarly, the Newark PL, NJ, will look at the origins of dances from the Caribbean, the Andean regions, Argentina, and Central America in an exhibit titled “Roots of Rhythm: Dance in Latin America.”

The programs organized by the New York Public Library (NYPL) last year included “Música de los Andes del Perú” (Music from the Peruvian Andes), by the Group Wayno; “Una Tarde Musical de Guitarra con Lisa y Josué” (A Musical Afternoon of Guitar with Lisa and Josué); “Ballet Floklórico Mexicano de Nueva York” (Mexican Folkloric Ballet of New York); and “Dúo de Flamenco y Guitarra” (Flamenco and Guitar Duo). According to Ismael Alicea, Community Outreach Services Coordinator, each event drew between 30 and 60 people. (This year’s events are still being planned.)

In a bid to spice up its own festivities, and on top of organizing storytelling times and film screenings of such hits as The Mask of Zorro and Frida, the Rockford PL, IL, will offer a cooking class taught by a chef from Northern Mexico at his local restaurant. A Q&A period will follow the guacamole and fajitas.

The Chicago PL’s Hispanic Services Committee usually serves up a smorgasbord of activities itself. In the past, programs have included cooking demonstrations, magic and puppet shows, author talks, arts and crafts, story hours, folkloric dance and music programs, and library exhibits and displays, says Andrea Telli, manager of the Humboldt Park branch. Telli ballparks that between 60 and 125 people show up for the kick-off program, while “spirited and interested audiences of eight to 12” attend the other programs.

Partying with a purpose

Hispanic Heritage Month can also be more agenda-driven, as it offers a promising opportunity for outreach, library promotion, and building public awareness. The San Antonio PL, TX, will offer a series of programs that includes workshops, dance demonstrations, lectures, and art exhibits. It will also be celebrating the month overall with a Hispanic Awareness/Public Awareness Campaign. Its goal, says Public Relations Manager Beth Graham, is “to promote library services and resources in the Hispanic community, with special emphasis on encouraging everyone to get a library card.”

This is the second year that the NYPL will be hosting open houses for Spanish-speakers at its Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island branches as part of “Bienvenidos a la Biblioteca” (Welcome to the Library), a two-year-long initiative designed to reach out to Hispanic communities with new materials, programs, and services. Topics of discussion at these open houses have included an introduction to Spanish-language computer classes and instructions on obtaining a library card.

The San Diego Cty. Lib. will orchestrate a talk for parents by a Mexican American admissions officer from the University of California at San Diego. In addition, according to Adult Services Coordinator Nancy Saint John, talks by an attorney on the subject of immigration are in the works.

A joint effort

All of this is hard to accomplish—at least to optimal enjoyment—alone, and libraries are inviting others to not only join in but help them with their revelries. The Houston PL, for example, will look to the Houston Independent School District, Arte Publico Press, 19 Head Start locations, and the Children’s Museum of Houston to help pull off the assortment of programs planned for children this year.

A performance by bilingual storyteller Claire Norelle at the Rockford PL will be co-sponsored by Charlotte’s Web for the Performing Arts. Last year’s “Mexican Chicago” photo exhibit at the Blue Island PL was accomplished in cooperation with the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago’s Pilsen area; this year, the library is working with the Illinois Humanities Council.

Meanwhile, the San Antonio PL will partner with Spanish-language media and local celebrity athletes, entertainers, and political figures. It will work with the Texas Humanities Council and the Texas Center for the Book to present a series of appearances and readings by Texas Hispanic authors.

Manpower, ideas, and expertise can also come from the very people for whom the festivities are being planned. Community members are by all accounts happy to assist in any way they can. The Hispanic parishioners from St. Benedict Church, Blue Island’s oldest Catholic congregation, for example, will be preparing food for their library’s events.

Thinking ahead

How far in advance should libraries be planning for Hispanic Heritage Month? Public Information Officer Vinora Hamilton, Miami-Dade PL, says that though the staff usually begins planning four to six months in advance in some cases—as with an author or illustrator—brainstorming an entire year ahead is not unusual. Similarly, the Chicago PL holds bimonthly meetings but is “always making contact with potential performers,” according to Telli. Still, it’s safe to say it’s never too late, or too early, to start.

For those curious as to how much other libraries are spending on their fiestas, NYPL’s Alicea says they generally set a budget of between $2000 and $3000 per year. This year, however, their new Hispanic awareness initiative resulted in a budget of $6000 for Hispanic heritage programming throughout the year (not just Sept.–Oct.). Chicago PL’s Telli, though she shies from disclosing the figure, says that she’s “struggled to find performers who will do programs for less than $200 in recent years.”

Beyond one month

Because no one likes to call an end to a party, the Northeast branch of the LeRoy Collins Leon Cty. PL Syst., Tallahassee, FL, will be extending the spirit of Hispanic Heritage Month into the end of October—which also happens to be Family History Month—by hosting the intergenerational program “Becoming American, Treasuring Our Heritage.” Administration and Operations Manager Debra Sears describes it, “Naturalized citizens and those preparing for citizenship will share their insights and experiences on becoming American and tell how they shared this information with other family members.” Sears adds that genealogists from the Tallahassee Genealogical Society will discuss using family memorabilia to document and develop family history, and a librarian will speak on using books to enlighten people about cultural differences and the immigrant experience in this country. Program attendees will be encouraged to share their own stories and memorabilia. As Family History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month overlap, Sears says, “we will aim to engage newer members of the immigrant community in the program.”

Diane Nevill, Glendale public information officer, notes that at her library, too, Hispanic outreach isn’t just confined to the months of September and October. “Programs that promote the Hispanic culture occur here frequently throughout the year,” she says. Indeed, the free weekly Let’s Talk English classes and the Rosetta Stone language program, in which Spanish-speakers learn English and English-speakers learn Spanish, are both well attended.

Advice from other librarians

Mulling over the best way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage all month long? There are reams of advice from other librarians based on studies, feedback, and personal experience. Over the past year, the Rockland PL has focused on Latino Services as a target market of the underserved population. They’ve learned a lot:

1. One-on-one outreach and invitations bring people through library doors;
2. Programs should, when possible, target community members of all ages, since “many come [to this country] as families,” notes Jennifer Giltrop, assistant director of Rockland PL, IL;
3. Programs such as salsa lessons or computer classes in Spanish have attracted the most people;
4. And, as Giltrop says, “public libraries need to educate the Latino population about library services so that [patrons] can take advantage of all the benefits.”