This guide has been prepared by the Survival Spanish Skills Project Advisory Committee in order to provide basic, coping words and phrases which will enable non-Spanish-speaking public service staff to communicate with Spanish-speaking patrons. The goal is not to provide instruction in Spanish grammar, syntax, or detailed rules of pronunciation. Instead, the guide emphasizes those words and phrases which are necessary to work with Spanish-speaking patrons until a Spanish-speaking staff person is available.

The publication of this guide was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Education under the provisions of the Library Services and Construction Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

The MCLS Survival Spanish Skills Project Advisory Committee thanks the Library Awareness Project of the South Bay Cooperative Library System, California, and the Queens Borough Public Library's Hispanic Committee, New York, for permission to adapt their manuals published in 1986 and 1988, respectively.

Metropolitan Cooperative Library System
3675 East Huntington Drive, #100
Pasadena, CA 91107
Telephone: (626) 683-8244
Note: Contact information updated 2001

1990 Survival Spanish Skills Project Advisory Committee:
Frank Navarro, Los Angeles Public Library
Judy Ostrander, Metropolitan Cooperative Library System
Felipe Pizano, Burbank Public Library
Rosemarie Roen, Pasadena Public Library
Eleanore Schmidt (formerly MCLS Reference Coordinator), Long Beach Public Library
Stanley Strauss, Cerritos Public Library
Albert Tovar, County of Los Angeles Public Library, Rosemead
Shari Haber, Project Coordinator, MCLS

Preface to the 2001Web Edition

Since its appearance a decade ago as a spiral-bound flip book, libraries around the country have clamored for copies of this handy little guide. It is no longer in print, but thanks to the good offices of Marie Kaneko (City of Commerce Public Library) and Susan McGlamery (MCLS), it is now freely available here for your bookmarking, downloading, and even printing. All the conventions of anti-copyright apply.

Marie Kaneko and Bruce Jensen revised the 1990 text. Jensen mounted it on the Web, so he's the fellow to contact if you have comments or suggestions for improving the presentation: flaco@sol-plus.net