Serving Non-English Speakers in Public Libraries

Hubschman, Amy

ALA Office for Research and Statistics (2007) Serving Non-English Speakers in U.S. Public Libraries: 2007 Analysis of Demographics, Programs and Services. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/offices/sites/ala.org.offices/files/content/olos/nonenglishspeakers/docs/Linguistic_Isolation_Report-2007.pdf

Summary:
This report, conducted by the ALA, discusses the services and programs offered by 480 public libraries across the United States.  The ALA used surveys to find out specifically what kind of services and programs libraries were offering their Non-English speakers, as well as, what kinds of programs and services were requested by their non-English speakers.  The goal of the research was to summarize the current non-English language trends found in libraries across the country and suggest ways libraries can remove any "language barriers" their patrons may face while utilizing the public library.

Evaluation:
The findings from the ALA report highlight the growing importance of the Spanish language and cultural in our country.  The report indicates that Spanish will be the predominant home language of U.S. school children, as well as, the majority of library patrons by 2020.  The paper lists ideas that libraries and librarians can use to help alleviate some of the barriers their non-English speaking patrons may face.  Some of the simple but effective ideas the report listed were: displaying a "welcome" sign in English and Spanish, offering informal ESL classes to patrons, offering storytime to toddlers in Spanish,  etc.