Thread: DE: Libraries in Delaware to improve services for Hispanics

http://www.examiner.com/a-520792~Librar ... anics.html

Libraries in Delaware work to improve services for Hispanics
1/21/07

DOVER, Del. - State officials hoping to improve services to Spanish speakers are beginning a series of workshops this week to train librarians throughout Delaware in serving the growing Hispanic community.

The Division of Libraries will host the first of nine planned workshops Tuesday at the Seaford Public Library. The workshops are designed to help local librarians attract more Hispanics and provide the services they want.

"First and foremost, it's maintaining the connection culturally so we understand what they need and what they want," said Kathy Graybeal, administrative librarian in charge of professional development for the Division of Libraries.

Graybeal will lead the workshops along with Jill DiPaolo, a division colleague, and Elaine Fike, director of the Georgetown Public Library. They have enlisted the help of Hispanic leaders across the state.

The workshops will be held in Seaford, Milford, Selbyville, Dover, Newark, Bear and Wilmington. The division will check back with the libraries five months later for status reports on their action plans.

The training program, similar to those in many other states, is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and WebJunction, an online community of library workers.

Graybeal said the Spanish Language Outreach Program grew out of an earlier Gates Foundation effort to bridge the "digital divide" between computer haves and have-nots.

A pilot Spanish outreach program was launched in August 2004 in about a dozen states; Delaware is among 42 states in the second phase of the program.

According to the Center for Applied Demography and Survey Research at the University of Delaware, the state's Hispanic population more than doubled between the two most recent censuses, from about 16,000 in 1990 to more than 37,000 in 2000, with the sharpest increases in eastern and central Sussex County. The population continues to grow, numbering almost 51,000 as of July 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Two hurdles that librarians must overcome in boosting Hispanic patronage are the distrust that some immigrants feel for government agencies and their cultural unfamiliarity with free access to libraries.

"In many South American countries, it is for the rich and you're not allowed to go in," Fike said.

Even the word "library" may be confusing, said Graybeal, noting its similarity to "libreria," the Spanish word for bookstore. The Spanish word for library is "biblioteca."

Some Hispanics, particularly illegal immigrants, also may be reluctant to apply for a library card, which requires a photo ID, such as a driver's license.

"I think that's a central issue," Graybeal said. "Let's face it, governmental buildings, which we tend to be identified with, are often times scary places."

Illiteracy may also be an issue, Graybeal said, adding that trust-building is a key goal of the program.

"If you've done something like Spanish signage in your library, that's an improvement," she said.

The Georgetown library staff includes two Delaware Tech students who speak Spanish. Local Hispanics know they're likely to find one of the two on duty if they visit the library at night or on weekends.

Kay Hudson, director of the Milford Public Library, said her facility has no Spanish-language books or periodicals, other than a statewide weekly newspaper, but that Hispanic patrons often check out videos and use the library's notary service.

Through interlibrary loans, they also can reserve books from the Milton library, which Hudson said has an extensive Spanish-language collection.

Fike said Hispanic patrons of the Georgetown library often come in to use computers to send e-mail. The library also is a partner in a Head Start program that uses Spanish-language translators during weekly time.

The workshops are designed to help local librarians attract more Hispanics and provide the services they want.

Can you believe this [self edit]?

Provide the services they want? In a library?

Our library caved a long time ago. Walls of books/magazines/movies in Spanish. Programs for adults and kids.

Somebody on the radio this week said they went in our library and argued for almost an hour with the head librarian about getting the La Raza publication out of there. Asked what if we had a KKK magazine? He said finally they just said they would give him time to speak at the next library board meeting.

Phew....