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Towards an inclusive conversation
January 22, 2008
by Loida Garcia-Febo
Do you know that as per the Census 2000, the number of Hispanics in North Dakota helped made Hispanics the second largest minority in the United States? Wyoming, Nebraska, Alaska and North Dakota are among the ‘new’ states where Hispanics are settling. California, New York, Texas and Florida, in that order, continue to be at the top of the list of states where more Latinos relocate.
Currently, there are significant numbers of Hispanics in all 50 states but in essence, the needs of the Spanish speakers in Alaska and in California are the same. This population wants to learn English to find jobs and help their children with homework. They want to find ways to see the doctor even if they are uninsured. Latinos worry about how to encourage their children to stay in school, finish high school and continue to college. They worry about immigration.
Librarians serving this population across the nation struggle to provide programs and services to meet their needs. We coordinate conferences, attend symposiums, and seat in innumerable lectures about the topic. Still, we need to continue a national dialogue about issues concerning Latinos. We must involve publishers, distributors, scholars and professional associations. It is a huge task and everyone is needed.
We have yet to find most answers, but it is worth to continue trying to figure out how to address topics such as immigration, health and education to mention a few. I am very much interested in discussing the mentioned topics in light of services provided by academic, public and school libraries not only in the States, but also in other countries around the globe.
There are many successful examples about how libraries are serving Latinos and I certainly want to hear from you. Let’s start the conversation! Send me your questions, concerns and ideas and together we will try to find answers to better serve Latinos and the Spanish-speaking. Come back every week! Stay tuned.
Posted by Loida García-Febo on January 22, 2008 | Comments (1)
In response to: Towards an inclusive conversation
Jaime commented:
I am glad you want to address the topic of Latino and reading. In my experience one way to serve people, who are no academically minded, is by looking at their needs in tern of practical how-to education. You have lots of self-made spirit to travel to a foreign land with out speaking the language. Why not to address such a need? In stead many librarian continue to indulge in academic or popular literature, which bear little importance when it come to the skills immigrants need to develop, advance or survive in this society, Give to a reader something the mind and you develop a patron who wants more. books and knowledge.
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