Library Services for New Americans

1
Library Services for New Americans

• An Infopeople Course
• Spring 2005
• Francisca Goldsmith
• goldson_at_pacbell.net

2
Agenda

• Arrival
• Survival
• Engagement
• Incorporation

3
Seeking Shelter, Wealth, or?

• Specific local demographics
• Conditions in home countries
• Legal status
• Survival needs
• Librarys self-identified roles

4
Arrival

• California immigrant communities more ethnically
  diverse
• Immigrant status not a necessary indicator of
  educational status

• Library experiences unlikely to match
  Anglo-American service standards
• Information needs critical

5
New Americans by Numbers

• 39.5 of Californians over 5 years old speak a
  language other than English at home
• 19.5 second language speakers also speak and
  read English adequately for the work they
  currently pursue

6
More Numbers

• Over 2 million immigrants in California are
  undocumented
• Median age of immigrants 38.4 years
• Median age of post-2000 new immigrants 27.2 years

• Nearly 2 million immigrants currently under age 15

7
Functional Identities in the Community

• Students
• Parents
• Business owners
• Service workers
• Casual laborers

• Property owners
• Tax payers
• Professionals
• Consumers

8
Library-designated Identities

• Children
• Teens, youth
• Families
• ESL/ESOL consumers
• Foreign language materials consumers
• Dependent on institutional hardware
• Problem patrons
• Unengaged with library

9
Government Statistics

• Starting point
• Mapping potential
• Key issues need further local research

10
Which Services Are Standard?

• Anyone can ask for information all questions
  receive serious attention
• Any customer can find something worthwhile on the
  shelves
• All children can get library cards
• All local tax payers see something they know was
  a good purchase

11
Equal Services?

• Meeting and display spaces available and
  accessible to all groups
• Regular assessment of non-users potential
  library needs
• Active research of librarys relevance to new
  American communities/individuals

12
Policy and Practice _at_ Your Library

• Signage reflects local home languages?
• Staff has access to prompt translation help?
• Legal guidance readily available, in person as
  well as in print?
• Catalog and internet browser support non-Roman
  fonts?
• Subjects of interest to the local community are
  represented accessibly?

13
Where Is the Library Getting Info about Local New
Americans?

• Census reports?
• Outreach established between library and public
  schools, including adult school?
• Houses of worship aware of the library as an
  information and referral resource?
• Other?

14
More Community Information Outlets

• Press releases from local non-English and other
  immigrant-oriented media
• Hospitals, daycare providers, police, and other
  local service providers refer clients
• Library staff aware of and patronizes local small
  businesses

15
Real-Time Service Tools

• ATT Language Line
• Multilingual signage
• Multicultural staff
• Protocols informed by relevant, current cultural
  data

16
Surviving

• Traditional library services address needs
• educational support
• local business information
• opportunities for acculturation
• Traditional library services may overlook
• personal experiences with information retrieval
• networked community agency cross-referrals
• cross cultural competencies

17
Models of Comportment

• Staff behaviors inform opinions about library
• Support staff with language and other areas of
  interpretation
• Communitys culture affects library culturebut
  need not rule it!

18
New Americans Value

• Respectful assistance
• Accessible information about laws, rights,
  responsibilities
• Outreach efforts that recognize practical
  constraints of time and energy

• Appropriate use of language, gesture
• Readily available guidance in matters related to
  school, business, independent living
• Informational meetings linked to popular
  activities

19
Can You Go Home Again?

• Travel info for resident aliens
• Online connections to overseas news
• Email and snail mail
• Keeping native literacies alive and healthy

20
Opportunities for All?

• Travel information and documentation
• Adult literacy support
• Culturally competent

• Which passport services?
• In English, for English-speakers?
• Prescriptive or participatory?

21
Partnering for Program Development

• Public schools, especially English Language
  Development departments
• Churches and religious leaders
• Public healthcare providers
• Language and cultural schools
• Cultural clubs

22
What Do You Have to Offer the Partnership?

• Reliable information about immigration, public
  education, local laws and regulations
• Multimedia reflecting many home cultures
• Professional ability to discern fact from rumor
• Early childhood and family education
  opportunities
• Life long learning opportunities
• Free public space
• Access to computers

23
Participating in American Life

• Traditional library services recognize
• recreational/literacy programming opportunities
  for families with small children
• importance of balance in the materials collection
• Traditional library services may ignore
• culture-specific literacy strengths and interests
• multicultural approaches to opening collections
  to demonstrate their relevance

24
To Do Is to Be (Equal)

• Volunteer opportunities
• Discussion group programming
• Focus group data collection
• Resource sharing

25
Who Knows Your Doors Are Open?

• Introduce the library to existing community
  forums
• Include minority language and ethnic media
• Library card registration off-site with
  jargon-free explanation
• Up to date institutional information online in
  currently relevant languages

26
Online Options

• Packaged skill building resources
• English language practice
• citizenship preparation
• Entertainment that educates
• links to games, book lists
• online storytelling
• Reference almost 24/7
• available in Spanish, planned in Chinese

27
Participation Demands Bilateral Open Minds

• Which program ideas make sense in the community
  you plan to attract?
• Which groups of new Americans have similar
  library needs?
• Which members among your new American community
  have relevant program skills you lack at the
  library?

28
Look for Key Participants

• High school students
• Adult school tutors
• Bilingual storytellers/musicians
• Community event organizers

29
When New Becomes Part of the Whole

• Current median age of naturalized citizens 48.4
  years
• 14.7 of post-1990 immigrants now naturalized
  citizens

30
American Culture Inevitable Change _at_ the Library

• Mixing newcomers with oldtimers
• Addressing issues of changing cultural norms
• Moving from sharing turf to creating new ground

31
Serving New Americans Should Enrich Services You
Provide All

• Update collection plans
• Develop new programs for every age group
• Evaluate and refresh physical environment

• Does the scope match your current communitys
  needs and values?
• When is English-language programming most
  appropriate?
• Do signs and images make sense to users?

32
Does Your Web Presence Reflect Changing
Demographics?

• Add and change partners
• Find communities with similar patterns of
  immigration
• Ask new Americans for helpand heed it

33
Diversity Continues

• Political and economic conditions continue to
  change worldwide
• Tomorrows new Americans may need different
  services
• Any days oldtimers likely to need help
  adjusting to community change

34
A New Library for New Americans

• Next steps _at_ your library
• Resources to keep you up to date
• Lingering questions?