Linguistic Diversity in Public Library Collections Elizabeth A.

Edleman Emporia State University

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Linguistic Diversity in Public Library Collections

Abstract In this paper, linguistic diversity in American public library collections is investigated. Statistics from the United States Census are presented which show that minority and multilingual populations within the United States are projected to increase. From here, ways of examining the needs of bilingual or non-English speaking populations are outlined, focusing on community needs analysis. Some difficulties that these populations may present for community analysis are presented, as well as why it is especially important that they are included. Linguistic diversity in public libraries and collection development is then investigated; specifically, why it is important for libraries to support linguistic diversity in their collections, some acquisition resources they may use to build world language collections, and difficulties librarians may encounter while building these collections. Finally, a critical analysis on the information gathered for this research paper is presented.

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Linguistic Diversity in Public Library Collections

Introduction Promoting and sustaining diversity, of all kinds, is a fundamental responsibility and obligation for public libraries. The Reference and User Services Associations (RUSA) Library Services to the Spanish-Speaking Committee (2007) says It is the responsibility of libraries to provide an equitable level of service to all members of their community regardless of ethnic, cultural or linguistic background (Introduction section, para. 2), and it is a responsibility that librarians must take seriously. Diversity comes in many different forms and has many characteristics, such as age, cognitive style, culture, disability, economic background, education, ethnicity, gender identity, geographic background, language(s) spoken, marital status, physical appearance, political affiliation, race, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation (The University of Tennessee Libraries Diversity Committee, 2003). Of these, the one arguably most directly tied to collection development is language(s) spoken when a patron population speaks a language other than English, their public library has the obligation to provide materials and services for them in that language. The United States of America is becoming increasingly diversified, both ethnically and linguistically, and the importance of finding out which languages are represented in a public librarys service population and then creating and marketing linguistically diverse collections is something that is increasingly important in public libraries. Linguistic Diversity Data American society is becoming ever-more diverse. The Population Division of the U.S. Census Bureau (2008) projects that minority populations in the United States will increase almost across the board from 2010 to 2050; they especially predict that Hispanic populations will boom, making a leap from 16.03% of the total United States population in 2010 to a projected 30.25% of the population in 2050. Meanwhile, non-Hispanic White populations in the

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Linguistic Diversity in Public Library Collections

United States are projected to fall from 64.74% in 2010 to 46.32% in 2050 (Population Division, US. Census Bureau). Shin and Kominski (2010) report that the United State Censuss 2007 American Community Survey found four major language groups used in the United States Spanish, other Indo-European languages, Asian and Pacific Island languages, and all other languages. In the American Community Survey, they found that 19.7% of Americans over the age of five years spoke a language other than English at home, or 55,444,485 people. Of this group, 62.3% spoke Spanish or Spanish Creole, 18.6% spoke another Indo-European language, 15% spoke an Asian and Pacific Island language and 4.1% spoke another language (Shin & Kominski). As minority groups, especially Hispanic minority groups, are projected to increase in the next 40 years, it is not a wild assumption to assume populations that speak languages other than English will increase as well. This is backed by the fact that since 1980, there has been a 140.4% increase in people who speak a language other than English at home (Shin & Kominski). Furthermore, approximately half of those who, in the American Community Survey, reported that they did not speak English at home also said that they did not speak English very well (Shin & Kominski). These are all people who may not be well-served by the typically predominantly Englishlanguage collections found in American public libraries. Yet they are still part of the librarys patron population and have as much of a right to use their public library as English-speaking patrons. Therefore, public libraries have the responsibility to ensure that these populations are represented in their collections. While these percentages will vary throughout the country, the implication is clear society as a whole is becoming increasingly multicultural, and also, increasingly multilingual. Learning About the Needs of Diverse Populations

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Linguistic Diversity in Public Library Collections

Community Needs Analysis Librarians cannot know in what direction to build their collection without knowing who will be using it. To learn about the needs of their patron population, libraries must conduct a community needs analysis within their population preferably, they would do this on a regular or even ongoing basis. Greer and Hale (1982) define community needs analysis as a systematic process of collecting, organizing and analyzing data about the library and its environment. It is designed to assist the administrator in choosing from among alternative patterns of satisfying residents information needs and interests (para. 1). The information gained from the data collected during the community analysis can then be used to help customize the services and collections a library offers. Within a community, there are four categories of analysis individuals, groups, agencies, and lifestyles (Grover, Greer & Agada, 2010). All of these categories should be included in a community analysis in order to get comprehensive data. Greer and Hale suggest conducting a community analysis by first defining the area to be studied, and then collecting data from within that area. This can be done by using any of the following methods: intuitive, impressionistic, systematic, and scientific. Research methods can include patron surveys, interviews, and focus groups, document analysis on local news papers, newsletters and websites, gathering data from local census reports, phone books, and directories, and examining the collection data for the library (Grover, Greer, & Agada). By collecting this data and analyzing it, librarians should be able to see if there are any holes in their librarys services and collections. Learning about Multilingual Populations Conducting a community analysis can be especially important to learn about populations within a librarys multilingual service communities, including recent immigrants, as they may

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not know about the library or that it can offer materials and services to them. Furthermore, populations with multilingual needs have been underserved by traditional library services (RUSA, 2007), so they may be aware of library community analysis efforts or think it worthwhile to participate. Becoming aware of and finding these people who may not be currently utilizing the library is a key step towards providing comprehensive customer service to all members of a community, not just the people who are already making themselves known. Tandler (1998) says: Immigrant service is customer service. As librarians we have a commitment to serve our entire customer base, including potential customers. If we want these potential customers to become users of our services and avid readers, we must look for them, find out who they are, anticipate their needs, and bring them in. It is up to us to make sure that they learn that the public library is an institution where no questions are asked, where everything is free, and where everyone is welcome (p. 65). Collection Development and Linguistic Diversity Multilingual Collection Development After learning about who is in their community, public libraries need to act on that information. While there are many foreign-language and English as a second language (ESL) programs, classes and events that can help to meet the needs of diverse populations, one of the most basic and fundamental things that a librarian can do is ensure that their collection is meaningful to all members of their patron population. Maintaining a collection that meets the needs of all members of a service population is of vital importance to promoting and nurturing diversity. According to the American Library Association Council (2008), Librarians have an obligation to select and support access to materials and resources on all subjects that meet, as

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closely as possible, the needs, interests, and abilities of all persons in the community the library serves (para. 1). Due to their inherent ties with language, both written and spoken, public libraries are an obvious choice for promoting linguistic diversity. Obviously, if a community has many non-English speakers, then it is important the public library recognizes that, and builds collections in the languages that these patrons do speak. The American Library Association (2008) says, Materials and resources (in a library) should represent the languages commonly used in the librarys service community (para. 3). This can mean that a library collects in many different languages. One example is the Seattle Public Library (2011), which, in addition to English, actively collects and promotes materials in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Korean and Japanese; another is the Newark Public Librarys World Language Collection includes 18 languages, nine of which are actively collected (The Newark Public Library, 2008). When building a foreign language collection, it may be difficult to find materials in the language needed; if necessary libraries should look beyond their typical acquisition sources to small presses, book suppliers from outside of the United States, neighborhood bookstores, conferences, and book fairs for materials in the language being collected (RUSA, 2007). Libraries with extensive world language collections may offer loans to other libraries for example, the Newark Public Library (2008) offers bulk loans from their World Language Collection of up to 100 books in a given language, for a maximum of four months, to other New Jersey Libraries. Dilevko and Dali (2002) found that the most commonly used selection methods are printed catalogs of foreign language publishers, approval plans, and recommendations of local people who speak the language; however, they also found that librarians rarely utilized

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other relatively accessible acquisition options, such as local foreign language bookstores and websites for foreign language bookstores anywhere in the world. Difficulties in Multilingual Collection Development There are some difficulties in developing foreign-language collections in Dilevko and Dalis (2002) study on the subject, the three most commonly cited issues were demand, budget, and space. Good marketing of foreign language collections may help increase demand for foreign language collections indeed, the Library Services for the Spanish-Speaking Population (2007) says Low demand for multilingual materials may be the result of inadequate collections, service or publicity in the past (Collection Maintenance section, para. 4). In order for any collection to be utilized, libraries need to make sure their target audience knows about the collection and it is accessible to them. Callison, Holman, Jackson and Overman (2006) described the multiple ways they promoted their librarys new Spanish-language collection, which included in-library signage, the use of the word Bienvenidos on library materials that had been translated into Spanish to allow for easy recognition, a bilingual library card application, and various public service announcements on the radio and at Latino events. Measures like these can help ensure that a non-English collection is known and used. Although there are some constraints to building a foreign language collection in areas where it would be in demand, doing so can benefit the library as well - providing materials for all members of a linguistically diverse community can result in increased library usage, connections with influential community groups, a more relevant collection, and possibly even favorable media and local reputation (Schull, 1998). It is in a librarys best interests to serve all member of their service community, even if that may mean developing a new collection for them to use. Critical Analysis

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Linguistic Diversity in Public Library Collections

Being a native English speaker myself, I never really thought much about the World Languages section of my library, except to check out some DVDs from other countries. And so it was very enlightening to read about how very important developing and maintaining these collections are, when there is a need for them in the community. While researching this topic, I kept thinking about the difficulties that it could present. Developing a collection in a different language possibly one that you yourself do not speak or understand would be a very difficult task. In class, we talked about the importance of screening and learning about materials personally, and not relying solely on reviews and synopsis, especially for children and young adult collections. However, if you do not have a multilingual librarian on site who can assist with collection development in that language and you cannot read or understand the material you are trying to collect, it seems like you would have limited options. I had also never thought of the difficulties in not only promoting a library in a language staff members may not speak but also finding out that there is a need for those materials in the first place, if people are not making that need explicitly known. It definitely seems to me that this is something that librarians will have to keep in mind, and not get in the out of sight, out of mind mentality regarding patrons who are not currently using the library because it has nothing to offer them. With that said, after reading about how diversified the country is becoming, and how many non-English speakers live in America, it is obvious to me that libraries have to be prepared to offer services and materials for all of their patrons. A quote really stood out to me by RUSAs Library Services to the Spanish-Speaking Committee (2007) Providing library materials for ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups should not be seen as an additional or extra service, but as an integral part of every librarys services (Introduction section, para. 2). I think that RUSA

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is absolutely correct it does seem like there is occasionally the mentality that collections in languages other than English are a nice add-on to the main English collection, but are seen as less important overall. However, to the patrons who depend on them, I am sure that they are just as important as the English collections are to English speaking patrons. I thought that this was an excellent reminder that although the country may be predominantly English-speaking, there are populations that speak other languages, and that these people have just as much right to a comprehensive and accessible public library as any English-speaking user does. Conclusion As communities within the United States continue to diversify, libraries should respond with increasingly multilingual collections. As Dilevko and Dali (2002) said: Because public libraries are in the business of serving members of their community, it stands to reason that the greater the number of individuals speaking a specific ML (multilingual) language in that community, the greater the emphasis that public libraries will place on expanding their collections of materials in that language (p. 122). Statistics indicate that populations are becoming more diverse and increasingly multilingual and so public libraries must adapt their services and their collections to represent and serve everybody in their community.

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References American Library Association Council (2008). Diversity in collection development: An interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/Diversity %20in% 20Collect.pdf

Callison, P., Holman, S., Jackson, C. & Overman, B. (2006). Planning for diversity at Monroe County Public Library. Indiana Libraries, 25(2). 2-4. Dilevko, J., & Dali, K. (2002). The challenge of building multilingual collections in Canadian public libraries. Library Resources and Technical Services, 46(4) 116-137. Greer, R. C. & Hale, M. L. (1982). The community analysis process. In Public Librarianship: A Reader, ed. Jane Robbins-Carter, 358-366. Littleton, CO.: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/pathway/article.html. Grover, R. J., Greer, R. C., & Agada, J. (2010). Assessing information needs: Managing transformative library services. Santa Barbara, CA.: Libraries Unlimited. Reference and User Services Association, Library Services to the Spanish Speaking Committee (2007). Guidelines for the development and promotion of multilingual collections and services. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidemultilingual.cfm. The Newark Public Library (2008). World Languages Collection (WLC). Retrieved from http://www.npl.org/Pages/Multimac/Collections/index.html Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau (2008). Table 6. Percentage of the projected population

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by race and Hispanic origin for the United States: 2010 to 2050 (NP2008-T6). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/files/nation/summary/np2008t6.xls. Schull, D. D. (1998). Innovating to serve the global village: Thoughts about multilingual and multicultural services. 59-63. In B. Steckman, D. D. Schull & A. A. Tandlers Library services to a linguistically diverse community: A workshop report from New Jersey. Reference Services Review, 26(2), 57-65 The Seattle Public Library. (2011). Help in other languages. Retrieved from http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=info_help_languages Shin, H. B. & Kominski, R. A. (2010). Language use in the United States: 2007. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/acs/ACS-12.pdf. Tandler, A. A. (1998). Serving diverse populations in Queens The New Americans Program. 63-65. In B. Steckman, D. D. Schull & A. A. Tandlers Library services to a linguistically diverse community: A workshop report from New Jersey. Reference Services Review, 26(2), 57-65 University of Tennessee Libraries Diversity Committee (2003). What is diversity? Retrieved from http://www.lib.utk.edu/diversity/diversity_definition.html.