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1. Messrs. Haycock, Freedman, and Sannwald
on Spanish-language library service
This year three candidates are running for the presidency
of the American Library Association. To help you get a sense of
where they stand regarding the issues of importance to librarians
serving Spanish speakers, Flaco sent them the query below. Their
replies follow.
Esteemed Candidates:
Language barriers present important challenges to library users
and service providers. Certainly the ALA could play an active and
influential role in helping librarians with their efforts to better
serve growing communities of Spanish speakers. SOL,
which reaches more than 200 working librarians in the US and Canada
with its newsletter and discussion list, and many more with its
accompanying website, invites all three presidential aspirants to
explain your perspectives on this issue and describe any plans you
hope to carry out during your term in office.
Your responses
will be included in the SOL e-newsletter and posted on the website.
Thank you all for your consideration, and best wishes for a good
campaign.
Ken
Haycock responds:
ALA needs to make a commitment to providing materials and
resources designed for our communities in a variety of languages.
When I was a coordinator of 116 libraries for a large system
we provided all materials in the fourteen major languages
of our clients, encouraged effective programming and as a
result developed strong bonds with our communities. ALA needs
to do the same. As we move into the @yourlibrary campaign,
supported by millions of dollars, we need to ensure that all
residents come to know and understand the importance of their
local library and the impact that it can have on their personal
lives and their communities.
Thank you for the opportunity to address this important question.For
further information please visit the web site www.kenhaycock.com.
Ken Haycock
Candidate for President of the American Library Association
Professor and Director
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies
The University of British Columbia
854C-1956 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
voice: 604-822-4991; fax: 604-822-6006
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Maurice
J. (Mitch) Freedman responds:
I
am committed to services to Spanish speakers. This commitment
will be a strong part of my presidency.
As
ALA President:
I
will advocate for encouraging libraries to recruit and reward
bilingual librarians by paying bonuses for that skill. I
will also recommend subsidies for language instruction for
librarians, library support staff, and patrons. This will
be included in a kit I will develop that will provide librarians
with tools to lobby for better pay for library staff at
the local level. The overall issue of pay equity and better
pay for library workers will be one of the most important
concerns of my presidency.
I
will use the full power of the office of the President to
ensure that ALA provides Spanish and other major language
translations of all ALA produced materials. Included will
be materials in non-print formats, which may be easier for
ESL library users to work with. Note that I sponsored a
successful resolution in the ALA Council that directed ALA
to prepare materials in Spanish that are comparable to the
English language materials ALA created for the @your
library campaign.
I
will establish a Committee on Diversity made up of ALA affiliate
group appointed members that I will consult on all major
ALA issues, including important committee assignments.
As
part of my job I have been committed to services to Spanish
speakers:
As
the director of the Westchester Library System (WLS), I
am proud of several accomplishments that were especially
important and valuable to the Westchester community of Spanish
speakers. Following is a list of some of WLS’s more
recent initiatives:
The
latest is a six-week course in rudimentary Spanish for the
library staff. It was an idea initiated by the Outreach
& Adult Services Department head, Robin Osborne. The
goal is to train library staff so they will have some understanding
of what Spanish speakers are asking for, as well as give
them the skills to be able to give simple answers in Spanish.
One
of the reasons I am so deeply committed to this Spanish
class for library staff was because of an incident that
occurred twenty-five years ago while I was head of technical
services at one of the largest public libraries in the world.
At a meeting of all of the coordinators and the upper management
of the library, someone reported that one of the staff had
told a library user to speak in English because that is
the language of the U.S. The Spanish speaker left the library,
probably never to return again.
I
offered an opinion and a suggestion. I said that the librarian
should either be transferred to a branch that does not have
Spanish-speaking users, or, be trained in Spanish if she
wished to remain at that branch. Either way, no one should
be insulted because of the language they speak. My suggestion
was for the library to subsidize Spanish instruction for
its staff as a way of providing better service to its Spanish
speaking users.
WLS
also created two literacy centers established with 8 PCs
each, and on-site paid instructors. The object of the centers
is to help ESOLs develop language and information literacy
skills.
Lastly
WLS recently published a bilingual Immigrant Resources Directory
listing all of the relevant service agencies in the County.
The directory was published both ways—front in Spanish;
turn it over and the front is in English.
As
part of my professional outlook I am committed to Spanish
speakers:
I
have always been committed to serving everyone. I believe
that the public library’s greatness as a democratic
institution is its commitment to serving everyone regardless
of his or her language, national origin, race, religion,
sexual orientation, physical differences, or ability to
pay. My career reflects achievements and activities in the
library, in the ALA, and in my personal life that embody
that commitment.
Promoting
diversity issues will be an absolute priority of my presidency.
Maurice
J. (Mitch) Freedman, MLS, PhD.
Candidate for A*L*A P*R*E*S*I*D*E*N*T
www.Mitch4Pres.org
Director,
Westchester Library System
410 Saw Mill River Road – Suite 1000
Ardsley, NY 10502
914-674-3600 x223
fax: 914-674-4185
freedman@wls.lib.ny.us
www.westchesterlibraries.org
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William
Sannwald responds:
I
think it is important to provide materials in the native
language of library users if there is a demand for this
material. In my eighteen years as Director of the
San Diego Public Library, I have added collections in many
languages, and today materials in more than 100 languages
are available at the SDPL. In addition, the library's
catalog is available in English or Spanish.
Besides materials, the SDPL attempts to place librarians
in branches who speak the language and understand the culture
of our users. Staff receives a 5% salary bonus if
they are able to pass a language test for those branches
that are determined to be bi- or multilingual.
The SDPL coordinates collection development with libraries
in Mexico, and the library has entered into cooperative
agreements with Mexican libraries.
If you need more information, please contact me.
Bill Sannwald
WWS@sdcity.sannet.gov
http://www.sannet.gov/public-library/
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2. Terra introduces three new services
The popular Spanish-language portal last week added
free instant messaging, 25MB of virtual document storage, and the
only free website authoring & publishing
service available en español. That last one has been added
to 'Tu Bibliotecario Electrónico,' our Web index for Spanish speakers
at http://skipper.gseis.ucla.edu/students/bjensen/html/sol/bibliotecario2.htm
Heartfelt thanks from Flaco, by
the way, to the many libraries around the country that have linked
to TBE.
3. You've gotta like the name, and the price
From: Kezia Scales kezia@thesunmagazine.org
I am writing to you from The Sun Magazine,
a monthly English-language literary magazine which publishes essays,
interviews, short stories, poetry, and photography. The
magazine is not targeted towards a specific audience, and it generally
appeals to a broad demographic of readers. The content of
the magazine comes primarily from unsolicited submissions (there
are no staff writers), which allows for a considerable diversity
of voices to be represented within the pages of The Sun.
Although the content varies significantly, the general tone of
the writing tends to be very personal, interwoven with philosophical,
spiritual, and political themes.
The Sun recently received a grant from
the National Endowment for the Arts to donate subscriptions to
three hundred public libraries across the country. Approximately
one third of the complimentary subscriptions will be sent to libraries
which reach out to traditionally underserved populations.
We are appealing for suggestions of specific libraries that are
located in traditionally underserved communities (such as economically
disadvantaged or predominantly non-white neighborhoods), or that
have established strong diversity/outreach programs. If
you are affiliated with a library which you think might fit this
description and benefit from a complimentary subscription to The
Sun, and/or if you know of other such libraries, please respond
by Friday, March 9 to kezia@thesunmagazine.org,
or call The Sun directly (919-942-5282).
Sincerely,
Kezia Scales
Office Assistant at The Sun Magazine
4. Oregon library co-op publishes newsletter
in Spanish
The Washington County Cooperative Library System serves
NW Oregon's Silicon Forest as well as a rich agricultural region.
The WCCLS even let Flaco work at one of their circ desks for a while.
The cooperative has done an outstanding job of mounting its entire
newletter on the web in Spanish translation:
LINK
An in case you haven't heard, WCCLS also recently produced
a nice Spanish-language library orientation video they'd be pleased
to share with you. See SOL 36 for details:
LINK
5. It's official: Three million Americans
don't exist
As grumbled about previously in SOL, the Census
undercount will not be statistically remedied. For more analysis,
and a link to a related story on how this will likely affect multicultural
marketing, go to LINK.
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