At the library I have tried to share these types of positive experiences I have had, while learning new languages. Here are some examples:

• First, when I was the manager of Queens Library at Seaside, I spoke with a woman who wanted to volunteer for the library. I asked her about her background and she said she was a retired reporter from Columbia. With her background in writing and communication, I suggested that she start a Spanish club and she did. We scheduled this program once a week in the afternoons after 3:00 pm. What was interesting is that we got senior citizens who just wanted to come in, chat, and learn something new. Adults who learned Spanish at school or college, wanted to refresh their memories. We got native Spanish speakers who just wanted to speak in Spanish. And we got one or two high school students who were taking Spanish and they wanted to complement their learning in school (and have someone check their homework). It took some time to build a following, but eventually this became a very popular program. I think  it is important to remember all the customers and staff coming in the door have something special to bring to the table. Take time to find that “thing” it can pay-off big!
• Another example, as manager of Queens Library at South Hollis I still had my Japanese lessons on my mind, and we had quite a few customers who were interested in Japanese animation. So, I started a Japanese Language Club. At first I used books and videos. I called it a self-study group since I am by no means proficient in Japanese. But after a while, it seemed like there was a need for someone to teach us. I did some research online and found a plethora of language instructors. I found a native Japanese-language speaker willing to do lessons for a reasonable fee, via Skype. We decided to try it for the Japanese Language Club at the library and she was excellent! One of our customers, a veteran, said it was his first time using Skype. He also chatted in English to ask questions about Japanese culture. I was happy to facilitate this dialogue and create a new experience for our customers. We do the lessons every week now, and they’re a lot of fun!
• My third example is meeting people where they are and just accepting them as they are. For many customers, including school aged children, English is not their first language. So using volunteers from our Library Friends Group, we were able to create a Multi-Lingual Homework Help Service, with volunteers helping kids do their homework in their native language including Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole. I thought this was a fun and re-affirming program. As an immigrant myself, I know the loneliness of feeling like you’re different from everyone because you don’t speak English. I felt as a librarian, I was able to go full-circle and create a welcoming atmosphere for my patrons, and send them a message: You’re not alone, we’re here for you!

The post Language Learning at the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Words are powerful, and the Library of Congress (LC) regularly changes its subject headings to reflect the preferred or most neutral terminology used by the population. Most of the time, there is no major uproar when a subject heading is changed, but the recent retirement of the “illegal alien” subject heading has caused some politicians in Congress to order the Library of Congress to keep the subject heading to match the current legal language.^[1][2]

This change made by the LC was not necessarily a political move, although it has now become a political issue. The LC often looks at proposals to change their subject headings and, in fact, had denied the same request to change the subject heading “illegal alien” in 2014.^[3] It was only when a group of students from Dartmouth College formed a coalition called CoFIRED (Coalition for Immigration Reform, Equality and DREAMers), along with the help of different librarian associations, petitioned the LC to stop using the term that the proposal was accepted. CoFIRED calls “illegal alien” a “dehumanizing, inaccurate, offensive, and inflammatory term.”^[4]

Despite being used in law, the LC believes that the term has now become pejorative and instead of using “illegal alien,” would use the more neutral “noncitizen,” and “unauthorized immigration” to refer to the broader issue.^[5] House Republicans argue that “illegal alien” is not a pejorative term but is simply the definition of someone who enters into the country from a foreign country without authorization. House Democrats argue that the U.S. Code is often “slow to catch up to the times,” with words like “negro,” “oriental,” and “retarded” all being used at some points.^[6] Although “illegal alien” does technically mean what the Republicans are arguing, it is often used to refer to a very specific demographic, thereby, arguably, making the term indeed pejorative.

What nullifies the challengers’ point, however, is that even if the term “illegal alien” remains retired, it will still be cross-referenced to “noncitizen”; a “see noncitizen” statement would follow someone’s search of “illegal alien.” In “Ethnic Groups and Library of Congress Subject Headings,” J. Beall states that “using a controlled vocabulary with cross references from variant forms of names is crucial to providing access to these materials.”^[7] The digital catalog has made this transition very easy. Those who feel strongly about the legal speak can still look up information using “illegal alien” and then proceed through “noncitizen” to obtain their materials.

Since librarianship is a profession that stays on the forefront of change, especially in recent years, librarians need to be reminded that we can and do actually positively affect our society. In 1972, after a letter was sent to the LC requesting the reclassification of books dealing with the subject of homosexuality under the category of “Abnormal Sexual Relations, Including Sexual Crimes” to a less pejorative one, the LC decided to change the subject heading to “Homosexuality, Lesbianism—Gay Liberation Movement, Homophile Movement.”^[8] As Charles Duhigg describes in his book, The Power of Habit, “News of the new policy spread across the nation. … Within a few years, openly gay politicians were running for political office in California, New York, Massachusetts, and Oregon, many of them citing the Library of Congress’s decision as inspiration.”^[9] Indeed, the reclassification was so influential that the Gay Rights movement was not making any headway before it at all.^[10] This issue is not about being politically correct or whitewashing a term until it has no meaning; it is about making stigmatized terms neutral so that society can move forward.

References

[1] Lisa Peet, “Library of Congress Drops Illegal Alien Subject Heading, Provokes Backlash Legislation,” Library Journal, June 13, 2016.

[2] Stephen Dinan, “House orders Library of Congress to maintain ‘illegal alien’,” Washington Times, June 10, 2016.

[3] Jessica Chasmar, “Library of Congress drops term ‘illegal alien’ after Dartmouth students protest,” Washington Times, March 30, 2016.

[4] Lisa Peet, “Library of Congress Drops Illegal Alien Subject Heading, Provokes Backlash Legislation.”

[5] Stephen Dinan, “House orders Library of Congress to maintain ‘illegal alien’.”

[6] Ibid.

[7] J Beale, “Ethnic Groups and Library of Congress Subject Headings,” Colorado Libraries 32, no. 4 (2006): 37–44.

[8] Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (New York: Random House, 2014), 44.

[9] Duhigg, The Power of Habit, 99.

[10] Duhigg, The Power of Habit, 99–100.

The post “Illegal Alien,” See: “Noncitizen” first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Simcoe County in Ontario launched a new program this year called Library Link, which “establishes community libraries as welcoming hubs in Simcoe County to help immigrants feel at home, access materials in different languages, and find local community information and referral support.”[1] As Simcoe.com pointed out, the library can also be a place for people to connect to each other and form new relationships, which provides added value to the services helping with learning languages and adjusting to a new life. [2]

Many libraries are working to help immigrants in their areas. San Francisco Public Library has a page of Citizenship Resources and is offering a free citizenship workshop in late February. Chicago Public Library has a page called Becoming a Citizen filled with resources, as well as specific locations that are Citizenship Corners. New York Public Library has English language classes, financial programs, and other resources for immigrants.

Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD), Colorado Springs, also has an Adult Literacy department that works with adult learners, including immigrants. I spoke with the manager, Teona Shainidze-Krebs, about the different services that are offered, which include English classes, tutoring, conversation groups, and a more recent addition of Path to Citizenship groups, which help to prepare patrons for the US naturalization test and are possible through a partnership with our local Catholic Charities Immigration Services.[3]

PPLD also provides English classes at a school in an area with a high immigrant population, a partnership with the school district that has afforded access to this service for even more people. Shainidze-Krebs said, “I think the most important thing is that we can help parents, and then the kids see what their parents are doing and it helps them. At the school where we offer ESL classes, the assistant principal told me that she could see a direct correlation between students whose parents were in the ESL classes and the students’ test scores.”[4]

One of my especially meaningful library memories was the day in 2015 when the library where I work hosted a naturalization ceremony with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The people in attendance were all dressed up, and you could see the excitement and anticipation on their faces. Hearing stories about a student who came to learn English and then was able to start her own business, and others who have moved from the ESL classes to now working on getting their GEDs and being able to get better jobs warms my heart.[5] A library can make such an impact on its community, and providing services for immigrants is just one more way to provide support.

References:

[1] “County of Simcoe launches Library Link pilot project,” County of Simcoe press release, January 5, 2016.

[2] Jenni Dunning. “Libraries key to Simcoe County immigrants’ success,” Simcoe.com, January 23, 2016.

[3] Teona Shainidze-Krebs, interview by Becca Cruz. February 18, 2016.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

The post Immigration Services in Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The European Bureau of Library, Information, and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA) is an independent umbrella association of library, information, documentation, and archive associations and institutions in Europe. They’ve issued a press release on the topic “Public Libraries in Europe Welcome Refugees”. The release includes this important statement: “EBLIDA understands the concerns of some countries in dealing with the refugee crisis and acknowledges that careful consideration requiring governmental measures at European and local level are necessary to facilitate the mass migration. At the same time, EBLIDA believes that libraries all over Europe should act as a platform for democratic and open-minded values, and be a safe place where social inclusiveness for all is a priority.”  Many European countries have taken this to heart accordingly and appropriately.

In Germany, there has been an initiative launched that focuses on not just providing the basic resources of food and shelter to refugees, but also offering education and cultural programming to promote integration. France had a conference in Calais on September 29th regarding how to handle the refugee crisis titled: “Migrants in libraries: what do they need, how to welcome them, which services to provide?” Norway is holding fundraisers, donating books, giving library cards to refugees, and the Norwegian National Library has a grant for 10,000 Euros to buy more books in Arabic. Some British libraries are using their spaces as donation centers so that refugees can receive much needed supplies including tents, sleeping bags, clothing, shoes, soap and blankets.

The Network, a UK website that deals with social exclusion in libraries, museums, etc., discusses the refugee crisis in an article titled “How Can the Cultural Sector Support Refugees?” and points out that not only should libraries provide information to refugees, but that the libraries also should provide information about refugees to the greater community. Specifically, “about the realities of refugees’ lives, and to support refugees themselves, celebrating their achievements, as well as helping with understanding of why they have become refugees.”

Public libraries in the United States can take some of what is being done in Europe with the current refugee crisis and apply it to their own communities, particularly for communities with large immigrant populations. Although not all immigrants are refugees, they have left their countries, are in unfamiliar territory, and may not have a lot of knowledge about their new culture or a large support structure. As an immigrant myself who regularly used my American public library for access to materials, I cannot emphasize enough how important it was for my family and me to be able to integrate into the community with the help of our local library.

That library happened to be the wonderful Skokie Public Library in Skokie, Illinois, which continues to be aware of its diverse community and pushes its patrons to look outside their own bubbles. This includes the fantastic Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township program that “spotlights” a particular culture. 2015 focused on race in general, while previous years focused on specific communities including Korea, Greece, Assyria, and the Philippines. We should be proud that our profession as a whole chooses to be so inclusive and open-minded, and we need to continue to find new ways to expand our patrons’ bubbles (as well as our own), and continue to look at new ways to stay inclusive and supportive of diversity.

The post Refugees Supported by Public Libraries in Europe first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

A recent article in American Libraries Magazine provided details about libraries that have boosted their services to immigrant and refugee populations. Through the Department of Justice, the Board of Immigration Appeals Recognition and Accreditation permits training to non-lawyers of nonprofit organizations “to legally represent immigrants.” The training is intense, lasting several months, and libraries can go for partial or full accreditation, which adjusts duties to filling out US Citizenship and Immigration Services forms to representing individuals before courts and Executive Office for Review. [1]

As the article mentions, there are approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, many of whom no doubt use the library. If we are to extend services equitably to library users, many libraries may feel a duty to provide immigration services as well. In my experience as a librarian, I know that some residents who are not citizens are hesitant to obtain a library card or register for a library program; perhaps they are afraid that the library staff will investigate their background. Therefore, moving towards a model where library staff are knowledgeable and equipped to provide limited legal services to those seeking citizenship could be a healthy move toward building a trusting and open relationship with these library users. This will no doubt take time, patience, and proper facilitation.

My take on this service? While I think that this is an example of a timely and important service, I do want to remind the library profession that when we consider implementing new practices and models into the library, we must remember that we cannot be all things to all people. Yes, the needs of our communities are as diverse as its residents, but we also must recognize when it is appropriate for us to provide the services or to partner with an organization that can provide them more effectively. In this instance, many of the libraries feel that they cannot confidently refer library users to other local organizations due to fraudulent businesses and government offices that are inundated with requests. It is important for us to continually assess our community, the local services available, and what our role should be.

Read more at American Libraries Magazine: http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/librarians-as-immigration-lawyers/

[1] Dankowski, Terra. “Librarians as Immigration Lawyers | American Libraries Magazine.” American Libraries Magazine. 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2015. <http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/librarians-as-immigration-lawyers/>.

The post Immigration Services at the Library: A New Approach to Pathways to Citizenship first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

This article explores the impact library literacy programs have in the development of immigrant community engagement. Literacy programs are free, learner-centered library services that are essential to the social, cultural, and economic development of rapidly expanding ethnic communities. Through their literacy services, libraries play an important role in reaching and expanding membership of new Americans.

Library-based literacy programs are an integral part of the mission of library services. These services contribute to the building of immigrant community engagement in their cities and neighborhoods where they live. Public libraries are literacy hubs radiating into diverse communities through their literacy programs, enriching a global village and engaging new citizens in the social, economic, and political activities of their communities.

As a government institution with a strong commitment to free access of information, libraries have been able to continue to provide library services, including literacy services to adult learners and their families. Due to extensive budget cuts, these educational gains are being threatened. As in the 1980s, “save our library” has become a recurring call in many communities. How important are libraries in building a community’s knowledge through its collection and through literacy programs? In this article, the importance of library and community partnerships will be explored with descriptions of successful urban literacy program models in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The importance of library literacy programs will be emphasized. These programs are a key component of the twenty-first century library mission and an element of its survival. The important role of the state library as a partner in stimulating growth and innovation among the regional public library sector is another major component.

Libraries, Literacy, and the New Immigrant

In 1984, the California State Library’s California Literacy Campaign (CLC) under State Librarian Gary Strong provided the initial library literacy grant to twenty seven public libraries. Two years later, five literacy programs formed the Bay Area Literacy Network (BALit). In 1985, the Southern California Library Literacy Network (SCLLN) was organized. Today, there are more than 100 library literacy programs in California serving over 100,000 participants, both adults and children.² In FY2011–12, this funding was eliminated by California Governor Brown. In 2012, the California legislature reinstated $4.7 million in library funding with the majority of funds provided for library literacy programs. At the urging of the California Library Association (CLA) and the passing of Governor Brown’s Tax Initiative (Proposition 30), the governor released his 2013-14 budget with 4.7 million for continued library funding. According to Mike Dillon, CLA lobbyist, “the budget spares public libraries from any further reduction.”³

In California, nearly a quarter of California’s adult population (23 percent) lacks prose literacy skills. In the counties of Alameda and Santa Clara the low literacy skills reach 19 and 16 percent respectively.⁴ Bay Area cities are ethnically diverse with the minority becoming the majority. In the city of Fremont in Southern Alameda County, Asians are the majority at 50.3 percent of the city’s population of more than 214,000 residents.⁵ A decade ago, Asians made up 37 percent while the white population has decreased from 47.7 to 32.8 percent in the last ten years.⁶

The emerging trend is evident. New immigrants will become a majority in many cities in California, and the library has a role in welcoming new Americans and integrating them into the community.⁷

In 2008, Neal Peirce of the Washington Post wrote that libraries “can be the fulcrum of renewal in cities and neighborhoods.”⁸ Libraries continue their historic responsibility to provide free early literacy to young people, conversation classes to immigrants, computer skills to job seekers, access to the Internet and library databases, workforce development, and networking for the unemployed and for entrepreneurs. According to Jonathan Bowles, director for the Center for Urban Future, “many of the needs of the immigrant entrepreneurs also overlap the traditional forms of public library service, namely language and literacy skills, which may not be the stuff of headlines, but are absolutely essential roles in smoothing the path for immigrant entrepreneurs.”⁹

Libraries create connections to local institutions and build English language skills for immigrants and native speakers. An Urban Library Council report situates libraries as important community centers for connecting adult learners and their families through their collections and classes, including adult English instruction, early and family literacy and school readiness programs.¹⁰ Libraries contribute to the future of communities by supporting “successful immigrant transitions and help communities deal effectively with the effects of rapid worldwide change.”¹¹ Libraries and their literacy programs not only can respond to rapid worldwide change, but can also be the agents for the information that stimulates that change. Libraries provide users with free access to information that supports a social constructivist paradigm that builds as much as it promotes critical reflection in learners.

Library literacy programs are constructing ways to reach learners and build civic engagement in a global community. As recipients of a socially constructed set of codes or language, we are constantly embarking on critical reflection of our learning, not just what is learned, but how and for what purpose we learn.¹² The vessel for social knowledge is embedded in historical and social forces that emerge over time. Many library literacy programs are building learning communities through small group instruction in non-formal and informal settings that are primarily functional and practical, but also empowering and reciprocal because learners teach each other as much as a teacher teaches them. Mutual learning is encouraged whether in a learning pair or in a small group. Other literacy programs direct their efforts to learning pairs where the act of learning is not always relegated to the students or the library user, but to the tutor or librarian in order to help advance the learner’s educational goals. The role of the learner and teacher is a two-way street. Literacy becomes a vehicle for the creation of shared knowledge.

Creating Learner’s Own History through Dialogue

In a 2009 article on the definition of literacy, Daphne Ntiri provides a functional view of literacy that is more in tune with the expectations of the workplace, but also tied to power relations among those who have and those who do not have wealth. She writes, “Literacy has undergone a shift from the traditional, non-engaging paradigm to an open, dialogic approach that is politically energized and possess transformative qualities to enhance understanding of the demands of a changing world.”¹³ A dialogic approach is the interaction among participants in a conversation or dialogue whereby all those engaged act as arcs of knowledge that together build a larger knowledge base. This dialogic approach can be traced to the work of Russian philosopher and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin. Dialogism describes the relationship that each utterance has with the previous and forthcoming utterances. A book, or a text, is not alone nor does it provide meaning without the intervention of outside dialogues, texts, or voices that intersect it. Martin Nystrand stated, “discourse is dialogic . . .
because it is continually structured by tension, even conflict, between the conversants, between self and other, as one voice “refracts” another.”¹⁴

Discourse is aided by each participant’s history, social role, and context. In a library-based conversation group or book club, the participants provide a window to the text, and their discussion is dialogic, and treated as “thinking devices” and not just as a means to transmit facts.¹⁵ Each participant’s active involvement enhances the thinking of others and of themselves.

Nystrand refers to this exchange as reciprocal teaching, which is a process that is both dialogical and sustained by its focus on experiences relevant to the learners, and on a deeper reflection of the literature—whether in the form of a book in an English conversation group, an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) discussion about American idioms, or while preparing for an interview in a job-seeking class.

As opposed to monologism, learning is enhanced by the interaction of those involved, as in a community of practitioners where participant’s thoughts and responses are taken into account and respected. Dialogue is chained by the meanings carried from one voice to another. As learners construct their own views of what they read in conversation groups or ESOL classes, they contribute to each other’s analysis by their dialogic interaction.

Library literacy programs surveyed promoted this web of “interpretative complexity” in their learning activities, in particular, their small group learning.¹⁶ In their learner-centered approach, literacy programs are powerful contributors and change agents when learners discover they are thinkers and creators of their own history and of the shared history of their community of learners.

Literacy aims at rectifying the historical and cultural oppression people endure, and at transforming the spirit of learners in order to break through political and social injustice.¹⁷ Libraries are no strangers to freedom of information and the ideals of a democratic distribution of knowledge to anyone who walks through the doors.

Building the Global Village through Conversations

The 2008 Urban Libraries Council report, “Welcome Stranger: Public Libraries Build The Global Village,” proposes five strategies for success that can assist in bridging the change experienced by many immigrants adjusting to global migration in the United States. The report places America’s urban libraries at the forefront in building immigrant communities by the library’s accessible information and institutional networks, understanding of local immigrant dynamics, sensitivity to cultural and language differences, building English proficiency, as a bridge to other local institutions, and in the ability to encourage civic engagement.¹⁸ According to the Asian American Justice Center 2007 report, “a growing number of immigrants—especially from Mexico, Latin America, and parts of Southeast Asia—are not only [persons with] Limited English Proficiency (LEP) but also have low levels of formal education and limited literacy skills in their primary languages.”¹⁹ The Alameda County (Calif.) Library literacy program has learners from Afghanistan with the same low levels of native language skills because of decades of war in their country.

Immigrant community development is enhanced by the librarian’s knowledge of immigrant demographics. The potential for public libraries to organize its services to make the information more accessible to community groups can result in a clearer understanding of the issues affecting immigrants.²⁰

The inclusion of literacy programs as a core library service has a significant effect in the rapid transition of immigrants into their communities. In the next section, a series of interviews with library literacy managers provides a picture of the impact their programs have in their service areas.

Helping Learners Become Active Citizens

The five literacy programs represented in this section provided services from 180 to 350 learners in their respective jurisdiction for a total of about 1,300 learners for all five programs. Two programs have literacy services countywide, while three have services in large urban cities. These programs cover areas with a population ranging from 250,000 to over 500,000 ethnically diverse residents. The number of staff averages from three to seven people with full- and part-time workers, including contract teachers. All programs rely on volunteer tutors and outside library funding to operate their tutoring activities. The California Library Literacy Services funds adult basic education tutoring for all programs, with the majority of expenses paid by their local or county libraries. At each program, literacy services are held in multiple locations.

Learners served by these literacy programs include native English speakers, second-language learners, inmates, reentry learners, homeless, families, children and youth, unemployed, people with learning disabilities, residential recovery clients, apartment residents, older adults, library and non-library users, government workers, private industry, and nonprofit employees. In all programs surveyed, library directors supported literacy program expenses and in some cases proactively advocated for library literacy as part of the mission of their library system. One library director was fully supportive of one of the literacy programs, yet, the library staff viewed literacy as inessential to the core services of the library. In light of severe budget cuts, and the unforeseen staffing costs of a newly built library, literacy was not viewed as a library service even though nearly two hundred learners and library users benefited from the service with reading, writing, and work-related instruction.

Library politics and the actual adult basic education program can be at odds. When asked why the literacy manager liked her job, she responded, “I wanted to be a part of direct service, to develop policy and curriculum, to improve adult education in the United States. This position has allowed me to do that.”

Another literacy program director manages a program in a large urban city with approximately 160,000 adults functioning at the lowest literacy levels. According to this literacy manager, 35 percent of the population in her city can be considered to have limited English proficiency. This literacy manager supervises a program for 350 adult learners in basic literacy, ESL classes, workforce-specific instruction, voting, computer labs, and a partnership with the library’s family learning centers at branch locations. The literacy manager predicts that the future of her program lies in a partnership with the library’s Family Learning Centers. Recently, their local adult school budget was cut by 70 percent from $5 million to $1 million.

Managers are aware that many learners from adult schools are seeking services at the library, as well as laid-off workers from business and factory closures. Learners are seeking all levels of ESOL classes and basic education at libraries. Because of budget limitations, literacy programs cannot increase the number of classes or tutors. The literacy staff is not able to maintain program growth demanded by library customers without additional funding for classes, tutor training and promotion, and without the support of library administration.

Tutor recruitment and training was in every literacy manager’s mind. They made a constant effort to encourage outside and peer volunteers to get involved, to advocate for the program, to speak at public representatives’ meetings, and to commit to staying long enough to meet participants’ learning goals. Managers were inspired by the involvement of learners in leading a conversation group, attending a leadership workshop, in peer tutoring, by their involvement in a learner advisory board, and participating in a voting workshop. These activities are seen as essential in encouraging civic involvement among literacy learners, particularly immigrants. Program services were marketed to local immigrant agencies and community groups.

The level of satisfaction was very high among literacy managers because, in the words of a manager, “I can see a permanent impact on people, literacy provides learners with something they never lose, that cannot be taken away.” Another manager said, “I am able to help people. I am engaged on a daily basis with everyone in my program. I go to the community to show the positive things that we do.” The positive outlook by these library staff members were shadowed by the general feeling that libraries relegated literacy at the margins, and not central to the library’s community service mission.

The federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) has funded several innovative projects that have taken the library out of the building and into the community. With LSTA funding, one literacy program has established four free computer labs, and a job-seeking class at three apartment complexes where learners’ interests are combined with reading and writing skills practice. Residents and neighbors can attend any class and learn about how to complete online applications, write a résumé, prepare for an interview, send and receive email, do Internet searches, find online library resources, search the library catalogue and place holds on books, and arrange a delivery through the bookmobile. The same program has expanded its Reading Clubs for second language learners where they read and discuss high-interest literature.

Library literacy programs face a myriad of challenges from budget cuts, to politically charged organizational cultures, to labor union influence, to government procedures and policies, and to programmatic issues such as learner persistence and volunteer recruitment efforts. Nevertheless, several programs have found a balance in program development and service delivery that have increased the learner’s capacity to succeed either in job seeking skills, English proficiency or confidence in everyday life dialogue. Library literacy programs are sites where emerging promising practices can be found in a learner-centered adult education that both inspires and encourages personal advancement and civic participation.

Library literacy programs are able to provide diverse modalities of instruction that work for the learners, at a time that is convenient for learners and with an open-door policy. These literacy programs are integrating ESOL or Adult Basic Education (ABE) instruction with life skills, computer training, job-seeking soft skills, and library usage in a focused contextualized learning environment that is safe and learner-centered.

Libraries are becoming more than just buildings and books. A distributive library is one that encompasses communities without borders, reaching out to learners––including new immigrants. But are public libraries missing the point and avoiding a dialogic process within their institutions by ignoring how important literacy has become as a key element of their strategic planning?

Literacy’s Role in the Future of Public Libraries

Library-based adult literacy programs are major contributors in the education of adult learners in urban, suburban, and rural communities. These programs provide free individual and group instruction during the current economic recession. Many literacy programs are replacing classes offered by adult schools due to budget cuts. The California Library Association lobbied for library funds with literacy as the main banner. The strategy succeeded in releasing funds for California libraries. Library literacy reaches out to an increasing number of immigrants who want to learn English to attain their personal goals.

According to the Asian American Justice Center, there are approximately 4 million LEP adults who are native born. This figure doubled between 2000 and 2005 and “is increasing at a higher rate than is the immigrant population.”²¹ Immigrant populations are more dispersed, and their English proficiency challenges have encouraged new strategies for effective instruction of learners. Some of these encouraging practices include a focus on life-skills instruction, an integration of English language proficiency with job training or GED classes, class schedules that fit the learner’s availability, well-trained teachers and an increase in collaboration and partnership with other community organizations. The literacy programs in this article use many of these strategies and are successfully attaining learners’ goals.

The public library is a little explored informal educational organization where adult literacy services continue to be provided for free and to everyone. It is one of the few remaining government institutions that have consistently stood by its ideals of free information for the masses and by its commitment against the failure to read well. But for how long? Can libraries fail to read well into their future and eliminate literacy as part of their mission of public service? Or can libraries expand their role in community social and economic development and see the role of literacy and education as essential to library members, to civic engagement, and the public good?

REFERENCES

1. Philip Martin and Elizabeth Midley, Population Bulletin Update: Immigration in America 2010 (Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau, 2010).
2. California Library Literacy Services, Twenty Years of California Library Literacy Services, 1984–2004: A Retrospective, informational brochure (Sacramento: California State Library, 2006).
3. Mike Dillon and Christina DiCaro, CLA lobbyists, “Legislative Update: Governor Releases 2013-14 Budget – Library Funding Preserved,” News from the Capitol, email to CLA members, Jan. 10, 2013.
4. National Center for Educational Statistics, “National Assessment of Adult Literacy: State and County Estimates of Low Literacy,” accessed Jan. 29, 2013.
5. US Census Bureau, “2010 Demographic Profile,” accessed Feb.11, 2013.
6. US Census Bureau, “Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” accessed Feb. 11, 2013.
7. Rick J. Ashton and Danielle Patrick Milam, Welcome Stranger: Public Libraries Build The Global Village (Chicago: Urban Libraries Council, 2008).
8. Neal Peirce, “Libraries and New Americans: The Indispensable Link,” The Washington Post Writer’s Group, Apr. 13, 2008, accessed Jan. 29, 2013.
9. Jonathan Bowles, A World of Opportunity (New York: Center for Urban Exchange, 2007).
10. Ashton and Milam, Welcome Stranger.
11. Ibid., 5.
12. Luis J. Kong, “Immigration, Racial Profiling, and White Privilege: Community-Based Challenges and Practices for Adult Educators,” New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 125 (Spring 2010): 65–77.
13. Daphne W. Ntiri, “Toward a Functional and Culturally Salient Definition of Literacy,” Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal 3, no. 2 (Summer 2009): 103.
14. Martin Nystrand et al., Opening Dialogue (New York: Columbia University, 1997): 8.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid., 77.
17. Paulo Freire, Education for Critical Consciousness (New York: Seabury Press, 1973).
18. Ashton and Milam, Welcome Stranger.
19. Asian American Justice Center, Adult Literacy Education In Immigrant Communities: Identifying Policy And Program Priorities For Helping Newcomers Learn English (Washington D.C.: Asian American Justice Center, 2007).
20. Ashton and Milam, Welcome Stranger.
21. Asian American Justice Center, Adult Literacy Education In Immigrant Communities, ix.

The post Failing to Read Well The Role of Public Libraries in Adult Literacy, Immigrant Community Building, and Free Access to Learning first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

It’s All About Relationships

The book club could not have happened without the ongoing relationship between Hennepin County Library and the Somali community, which is the result of sustained and intentional work. HCL has a full-time Somali Community Liaison (as well as one each for the Hispanic and Hmong communities) who was the first point of contact for the book club request. Because of the time and effort he had put into promoting library services to his community, that channel was open when the need was there. The rapid success of the book club was also possible because of the enthusiasm of the girls’ group leaders. None of these connections were made overnight—they were the result of time spent drinking tea and talking to families without a set agenda. The liaison also had an important role in educating non-Somali library staff (including me) about his community. While such work is easier when the liaison is a paid staff member, any librarian can accomplish these results by finding an enthusiastic member of the community they want to reach and spending time with that person. One well-placed contact who believes in the importance of library services can open a whole network of relationships.

Social Workers Are Natural Allies

An important point that came up in planning for the book club was that many members of the Somali community have lasting trauma from surviving the war in Africa. While the teens in the book club were young enough to have few such scars, they are surrounded by family members who do. In addition, like any children of immigrants, they’re growing up in a very different culture from their parents. Because these sensitive issues could be part of our discussions, I invited a social worker to co-lead the club with me. We were very clear that she wasn’t going to be leading a group therapy session, but social workers are trained on asking perceptive questions and listening to diverse perspectives, so her participation was invaluable. This book club only scratched the surface of what would be possible with such a collaboration. For example, Brian Coyle is a site where many social work students complete their field work, meaning they have more ongoing contact with the population than any librarian and would make good partners in further promotion of library and information services.

Teens Are Teens

After an initial consultation with the community liaison and group leader about what would be appropriate book content, I selected a few titles for the girls to vote on. I purposely included a couple of books that dealt with issues of cultural and intergenerational family conflict, but the first book the girls chose to read was Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. More than once over the course of leading the book club, I heard from library staff of all backgrounds who were surprised that children of immigrant families want to read the same books as most kids their age. It’s important for all of use to remember that while specific populations have their own unique needs and interests, teens are, first and foremost, teens. We did also end up choosing and reading Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet by Kashmira Sheth, which opened up a rich debate about arranged marriage. But the questions of the importance of beauty and sameness raised by Uglies were just as important to this group of girls in hijab as to any other American teenagers.

There were other, smaller lessons I learned, too, as a first time teen book group leader—be prepared to lose some books, for one—but the items above are what emerged as universally important. I hope they’re useful to you as well.

The post Teens Are Teens: A Book Club for Somali Girls first appeared on Public Libraries Online.