Bienvenidos Bienvenue Benvenuto Welcome

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Bienvenidos! Bienvenue! Benvenuto! Welcome!

• Transcending Cultural Barriers to Effective
  Service

The arrivals are of the classes which in
later years have come to be considered
undesirable citizens. Italians from both North
and South, Russian and Polish immigrants.Germans,
English and Scandinavian poor.yet It is hard
to say how our subways would be dug, or our
railways would be built, without the coarse labor
which Americans despise, but demand to be done
New York Times, June 11, 1914, pg. 10
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Demographics

• American Factfinder (US Census Bureau)
• Brookings Institution (The Rise of New Immigrant
  Gateways)
• MLA Language Map
• National Center for Educational Statistics
• National Day Labor Study (UCLA)
• US Citizenship Information Service (Formerly
  known as the INS)
• TRACImmigration

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What is culture?

• Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience,
  beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, social
  hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles,
  spatial relationships, concepts of the universe
  and material objects and possessions acquired by
  a group of people in the course of generations
  through individual and group learning. Samovar

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Cross-cultural Communication

• 93 of communication is non-verbal Mehrabian
• Culture impacts both the sender and the receiver
  of information Samovar
• Communication
• Context Verbal Code Meaning
  
• Samovar

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Selected Cultural Elements

• Time Monochronicity vs. Polychronicity
• Space/Place/Hierarchy
• Context of verbal communication Low, High,
  Direct, Indirect
• Universalism THE VALUE ISSUE

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Notions of Time

• Scheduling
• Prioritizing
• Evaluating
• Task Handling
• Activity Coordination
• Statistics (When does it count?)
• Hall

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Personal Space/Place

• Group/Family
• Hierarchy
• Authority
• Territory
• Approachability (Walk-about?)
• Hall, Brake

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High vs. Low Context

• Non-verbal cues within the message
• May I take this book?
• Does this make me look fat?
• The Bulgarian Lady
• Trompenaars

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Universalism

• Fair means the same for everyone
• Uniformity and Consistency are right
• Coca Cola
• MacDonald's
• 
  Hall, Harris

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Stewardship

• Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have it
  done unto you.
• Platinum Rule Do unto others as they would
  prefer that it be done unto them.
• Public Librarianship is the at intersection of
  service, knowledge and community.
• Block

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Anxiety Relievers

• Differences can FEEL like a threat, at first.
• We tend to overlook similarities, while focusing
  on differences.
• There is more variation within groups than
  between groups.

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Anxiety Relievers.contd.

• Our own cultural identities become more apparent
  as we interact with other groups.
• Stereotyping is a common occurrence.
• The best way to learn about another culture is by
  direct experience.

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Judgment vs. Prejudice

• Clinical outlook!
• Understanding is NOT abrogation of ones own
  culture!
• Focus on customer service outcome, rather than on
  issues too big to solve!

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To Do List for Library Directors Managers

• Understand local immigration dynamics
• Bring cultural language sensitivity to service
  delivery
• Build English language capacity
• Provide workforce support
• Create linkages to mainstream institutions
• Encourage civic engagement

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Where to find help

• SCLA/RADS Multicultural-Multilingual Services
  Committee MTG 5/9/06 _at_scls!
• NYLA Ethnic Services Roundtable
• Reforma Reforma-net listserv
• WebJunction