Latino Patrons of Library Services

This I wrote about services for Latino Patrons in previous semester.

          In 2010 the number of immigrants in the United States was 40 million, which was about 13% of the population, and most new “immigrants have little English speaking ability” (Shen, 2013, p.4).  These individuals need library services and enhanced information literacy to benefit them economic prosperity, social advancement, and intellectual growth” (C. Chu, 1999, p. 343). They need the “ability to analyze and critically evaluate information” (C. Chu, 1999, p.344).  Librarians need to ‘provide people whose languages are not the dominate or official ones with appropriate literacy services” (C. Chu, 1999, p. 339).  Further, linguistic minorities often have difficulty using library services because becoming a member of the library is ‘bureaucratic” (C. Chu, 1999, p. 342) .

            There are several ways libraries and librarians can address the issue of information literacy for their linguistic minority patrons.  A study on information literacy and how libraries can help, found that “the most successful programs were ESL classes, language-specific materials, computer classes and story time” (Al-Qallaf & Mika, 2009 p. 133).   One of the first steps a library should take is to form partnerships  “involving the local immigrant community in the life of the library,” and asking for suggestions about what they need (“Library Services,” 2009, p.121).  In addition, libraries should give translated instructions on how to access and translate web-pages, and tailor parts of their collections to provide information, movies and music in the native language of the immigrant patrons. (“Library Services,” 2009, pp.122-123)