Críticas Magazine

Loida García-Febo

My workplace: my multicultural link
February 15, 2008

Now that we’ve been introduced, let me tell you a bit about me.

The drive along Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, a borough of New York City, is a multicultural experience in itself, store fronts have signs in Spanish, Indian languages, Chinese, Bangladeshi and Arabic. Take a right turn on Merrick Boulevard and a giant LIBRARY banner welcomes you to a multiethnic and multilingual space, Queens Library – that’s where I work.

Founded in 1896, the Queens Library system has 62 community libraries and a central library throughout Queens serving 2.2 million people. It is one of the largest library systems in the country holding the highest circulation of materials in the United States with 21 million items circulating in the Fiscal Year of 2007. The system’s collection includes materials in more than 60 languages. Major collections in languages other than English include Spanish, Chinese, Korean, South Asian languages, and Russian (Chao 1993). Queens’ residents come from all over the globe. The US Census Bureau reports that 47 percent are foreign born, 53 percent speak other language than English at home and 27, speak little or no English.

I’ve been managing the Special Services unit for two years now. Prior to this, and after coming straight from Puerto Rico, I managed Spanish Language Collections and Cultural Arts Programs for Queens Library’s New Americans Program (NAP). 

NAP was established in 1977 to provide services to the area’s many new immigrants. NAP staff manages Collections in international languages including books, periodicals, CDs, CD-ROMs and videos. Public Programs that assist new immigrants in adapting to life in America and that celebrate the culture of the diverse ethnic groups in Queens are coordinated on an ongoing basis. NAP staff develops Resource Guides and resources including multicultural web sites, directory of immigrant-serving agencies, demographics and more. Click here for more Services.

Special Services reaches out to older adults, persons with disabilities, job seekers, the incarcerated and medically underserved populations. The unit, located within the Central Library, includes outreach librarians, community associates, a job information librarian, public health specialists, and other support staff. A satellite Job Information Center located at the Department of Labor in Jamaica is also part of Special Services. The priority is to bridge the gap between information and underserved populations.

Do you work at a library serving multicultural populations? What services you provide? I’d love to blog about it! Contact me!

 
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Chao, Sheau-yueh J. 1993. The New Americans Program: Queens Borough Public Library’s Service to Multilingual/Multicultural Communities. Public Libraries 32 (6) : 319-22.

Posted by Loida García-Febo on February 15, 2008 | Comments (0)