CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE: IMMIGRATION CONTROVERSY AND LIBRARY SERVICE

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CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE IMMIGRATION CONTROVERSY AND
LIBRARY SERVICE

PLA Annual Conference March 27, 2008 830 945
AM
Presenter Renée Reed Hennepin
County Library Minneapolis Central Library
rreed_at_hclib.org
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To provide resources, programs, services and
space for ALL.

Our Mission

• Library Bill of Rights
• Books and other library resources should be
  provided for the interest, information, and
  enlightenment of all people of the community the
  library serves. Materials should not be excluded
  because of the origin, background, or views of
  those contributing to their creation.
• A persons right to use a library should not be
  denied or abridged because of origin, age,
  background, or views.

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Intellectual Freedom Core Values of
Librarianship Impact Immigrants

• Access
• Confidentiality/Privacy
• Democracy
• Education and Lifelong Learning
• Intellectual Freedom
• The Public Good
• Professionalism
• Service
• Social Responsibility

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Immigrant populations are diverse.
Who are the immigrants?

• Assume nothing about the customer.
• Immigrant populations are as diverse as any
  population group Comprised of affluent and
  impoverished, literate and illiterate, highly
  educated professionals and unskilled laborers,
  refugees who have endured untold suffering and
  individuals who have enjoyed lives of privilege
  and comfort.

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Know your community of users and identify primary
immigrant populations.
Demographics

• The American population is changing and shifting
  rapidly.
• View the website of the demographer or geographic
  analyst for your state.
• U.S. Census resources such as the American
  Community Survey (ACS) reveal how communities are
  changing by filling in the gaps between each
  10-year census. See http//www.census.gov/acs/ww
  w/index.html

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A nation of immigrants
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What challenges do we face
and how do we manage libraries in a climate of
rapid demographic change?

• Depressed economic conditions exacerbate fear and
  pit one group against another.
• Immigrants are sometimes suspicious of government
  agencies, including libraries.
• Library budgets and resources are limited. How
  and where should the money be spent?
• Professional guidelines, manuals, and codes of
  ethics can help to inform our decisions.

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Restrictions, Impediments Fears

• Are privileges curtailed if immigrants dont
  provide approved identifying documents that might
  be linked to immigration status?
• What is your policy about requiring approved
  identification such as a drivers license to
  secure a library card, use a computer, or use the
  library to the fullest extent?
• There may be some individual and collective
  anxiety about participating in the 2010 Census.
• What remedies would reduce obstacles?

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Newest immigrants have disadvantages
within the context of American society and
culture.

• Strive to create a welcoming environment in which
  immigrants are given extra attention and special
  considerations.
• Translators can help to explain rules regarding
  registration, borrowing privileges, penalties for
  overdue or lost materials, and other issues
  causing misunderstandings.
• Recruit bi-lingual members of the community to
  work in the library or serve as volunteers.

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Immigrants are being empowered to articulate
their hopes, aspirations and expectations.
May 1, 2006 Protest march in Los Angeles for
immigrants rights affected by U.S. Congressional
reform on illegal immigration.
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How can we help to empower immigrants and ease
their transition into American life?

• Adapt policies that acknowledge the special needs
  of the newest immigrants.
• Become reacquainted with sections of the
  American Library Associations Policy Manual,
  such as the guidelines about Library Services
  For the Poor Policy Objectives, 61.11.
  Promoting the removal of all barriers to library
  and information services, particularly fees and
  overdue charges.

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Make full use of professional resources.

• ALA EMIERT (Ethnic and Multicultural
  Information Exchange Roundtable)
• ALA Affiliates Asian/Pacific American
  Librarians, Black Caucus, Chinese American
  Librarians, ProLiteracy Worldwide, REFORMA, etc.
• ALA - Office for Diversity
• ALA - Office for Literacy Outreach Services
• National Coalition for Literacy
• PLA Public Librarian Recruitment tools
• Urban Libraries Council
• Your State Library and State Department of
  Education

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Create a user-friendly environment.

• Prepare multilingual audio-tours that may be used
  to acquaint new immigrants to library services
  resources.
• If not daily, on specific days of the week, offer
  the help of translators to assist specific
  immigrant populations.
• Provide opportunities for immigrants to
  participate in Conversation Circles enabling them
  to practice English speaking skills in a
  non-judgmental environment.

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Staff Preparedness

• Endeavor to create diversity in staff
  composition.
• Require staff to learn at least three facts about
  a new immigrant population group.
• Encourage staff to learn a new language or
  improve upon existing language skills and reward
  them for their efforts.
• We must be culturally and linguistically
  sensitive, not ethnocentrically arrogant.

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Facing negative stereotypes
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Partnerships Outreach The library must be
connected to the community.

• Befriend Community leaders, ethnic newspapers
  editors, agency heads serving targeted
  populations, teachers, school librarians, and
  youth leaders.
• Know the local immigrant organizations and
  subscribe to ethnic newspapers and magazines.
• Communicate regularly and establish relationships
  of trust and respect.
• Create a New Americans Center or develop strong
  collections, programs and services for
  immigrants.
• Library staff must be recognized as friends, and
  active community participants.

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Invite participation and input from the
community.

• Encourage the use of the library as a meeting
  place for immigrants.
• Offer special VIP library tours to identified
  leaders of the community.
• Ask leaders to help identify ways that the
  library might best serve the community.
• Use translators to assist with needs assessments
  focus groups, user surveys, or discussions or
  interviews with community members to ascertain
  their needs.

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Youth are often our best link to the immigrant
community.

• If I had influence with the good fairy. . . I
  should ask her that her gift to each child in the
  world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that
  it would last throughout life, as an unfailing
  antidote against the boredom and disenchantments
  of later years, the sterile preoccupation with
  things that are artificial, the alienation from
  the sources of our strength.
• --- Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder

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Win the hearts and minds of the young they can
become our best advocates.

• Provide bilingual storytime and other early
  literacy initiatives.
• Offer family literacy programs.
• Provide space and discussion opportunities for
  immigrant teens.
• Offer cultural programs that appeal to families
  and youth.
• Create a place where immigrant youth are valued
  and feel a sense of ownership.

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Work with direct service providers to offer
classes or create strong referral lists.

• Class offerings or referrals for
• English Language Learning, ABE, TOEFL, GED
• Citizenship test preparation
• Finding a job or starting a business
• Legal aid including immigration concerns
• Computer applications and Internet use
• Coping with financial challenges banking
• Physical and mental health issues
• Schools and education for children adults
• Finding affordable, safe housing

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Work with your Friends organization.

• They may help to fund programs, collections, and
  special initiatives.
• Encourage immigrants to become members of your
  Library Friends organization and offer a special
  rate to immigrants who wish to join.
• Persuade Friends to have a longstanding
  commitment to serving the immigrant community.

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Fundraising

• Engage the private sector and create corporate
  partnerships.
• Pursue LSTA, IMLS, and other federal or state
  grants.
• Review successful grant applications to learn
  techniques and strategies.
• Use resources in The Foundation Center such as
  the list of the Top 50 U.S. Foundations Awarding
  Grants for Immigrants and Refugees.

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As a Nation of Nations
Everywhere immigrants have
strengthened the fabric of American life.
Our role as a public library is critical to the
health and strength of this country. The
public library is the principal means whereby the
record of mans thoughts and ideas and the
expression of his creative imagination are made
available to all. --- UNESCO Public Library
Manifesto
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Brief List of Resources

• American Library Association, Association for
  Library Services to Children (ALSC), New
  Immigrants Resources. Online resource list.
• Chua, Amy. Day of Empire how hyperpowers rise to
  global dominance -- and why they fall. New York
  Doubleday, 2007.
• Ethnic NewsWatch a ProQuest database.
• Kennedy, John F. A Nation of Immigrants. New
  York Harper and Row, 1964.
• MultiCultural Review. Tampa, FL The Goldman
  Group.
• Portes, Alejandro, and Rubén G. Rumbaut.
  Immigrant America a portrait. 3rd ed. Berkeley
  University of California Press, 2006.
• Schulz, William F. In Our Own Best Interest how
  defending human rights benefits us all. Boston
  Beacon Press, 2001.

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• Sullivan, Robert, ed. The American Immigrant an
  illustrated history. New York Life Books, 2004.
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Civics
  and Citizenship Toolkit a collection of
  educational resources for immigrants.
  Washington, D.C. U.S. Citizenship and
  Immigration Services, Institute of Museum and
  Library Services, U.S. Govt. Printing Office,
  2007. (Multimedia toolkit or online resource)
• Urban Library Council. Welcome Stranger public
  libraries build the global village. Evanston,
  IL Urban Libraries Council, 2007.
• Urban Libraries Council. Public Library Services
  to New Americans speeding transitions to
  learning, work and life in the U.S. Evanston,
  IL Urban Libraries Council, 2003.

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Contacts and Organizations

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  www.aclu.org
• American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
  www.afsc.org
• American Library Association, Association of
  Library Service to Children (ALSC).
  www.ala.org/ala/alsc/alscresources/for
  librarians/new immigrantsresources.cfm
• American Library Association, Office of Literacy
  Outreach Services. www.ala.org/ala/olos/literacy
  outreach.htm
• Foundation Center. http//foundationcenter.org/
• National Institute for Literacy. www.nifl.gov/
• Urban Libraries Council (ULC). www.urbanlibraries.
  org
• U.S. Citizenship Immigration Services.
  www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis