American public libraries have. Use of Public Libraries by Immigrants. Feature

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1 Use of Public Libraries by Immigrats Susa K. Burke Susa K. Burke is Assistat Professor, School of Library ad Iformatio Studies, Uiversity of Oklahoma, Norma. Submitted for review October 5, 2006; revised ad accepted for publicatio July 23, Referece & User Services Quarterly, vol. 48, o. 2, pp America Library Associatio. All rights reserved. Permissio grated to reproduce for oprofit, educatioal use. The Uited States has experieced icreased immigratio rates sice 1990 ad public libraries are faced with providig services to immigrats from a wide variety of cultural backgrouds. Which immigrats are the most likely to utilize public library services? This study uses data from the U.S. Curret Populatio Survey from 2002 to compare households of immigrats from various world regios o the use of public libraries i the past moth ad the past year. Immigrat households rates of library use are also compared to households of ative-bor U.S. citizes. America public libraries have a log history of service to the foreig-bor. While today s immigrats have much i commo i terms of library eeds with immigrats from earlier periods, the demographic character of ewcomers to this coutry has chaged substatially. For example, oe hudred years ago immigrats were predomiately Europea. Today s immigrats are much more likely to be from Lati America ad Asia. 1 Immigratio rates have icreased sice Accordig to U.S. Cesus Bureau data, i 2000 immigrats were more tha 11% of the U.S. populatio for the first time sice By 2004 there were 34.2 millio foreig-bor residets i the Uited States, or 12% of the populatio. 3 I additio to immigrats themselves, the 2000 cesus showed that fully 20% of K 12 studets were childre of immigrats. 4 It is udeiable that these umbers of immigrats are havig ad will cotiue to have a sigificat impact o U.S. istitutios such as public libraries. How are public libraries servig such diverse populatios? Materials i laguages other tha Eglish, biligual ad bicultural staff members, literacy istructio, ad Eglish-as-a-secodlaguage courses are some of the more commo strategies. I additio, libraries ca parter with federal Americaizatio agecies. The U.S. Citizeship ad Immigratio Services has had vedor booths at America Library Associatio Aual Cofereces to promote aturalizatio ad citizeship materials for public libraries. Federal outreach to immigrats through public libraries dates back at least to the World War I era. 5 Library Use Studies There have bee may studies o characteristics of public library users ad ousers. Lawrece White stated that at least fifty such studies have bee coducted sice the 1930s. Douglas Zweizig ad Breda Dervi focused o 164 Referece & User Services Quarterly

2 sixtee studies that they idetified as truly comparable. 6 I their aalysis of these studies, Zweizig ad Dervi cocluded that % of U.S. adults use the public library at least oce a moth, ad 21 64% at least oce a year. 7 Most of the studies examied demographic variables as predictors of library use. Of these, educatio level was cosistetly the strogest predictor. Socioecoomic variables such as icome ad occupatio were weak predictors, ad age was curviliear (use icreased with age to a certai poit the decreased). Sex, race, ad marital status were ot importat predictors. 8 Judith Paye foud that the presece of school-aged childre ad the educatio process were strog reasos for library use. 9 Carol Krous idetified family size ad couty size as ifluetial. 10 Some researchers foud odemographic variables such as attitudes ad habits were better predictors of library use tha demographic variables. 11 Library Use By Immigrats Studies have also bee doe o immigrats use of public libraries. These geerally focused o immigrats from specific geographic regios ad located i particular areas of the Uited States. Most studies of immigrat library users cocer Latio immigrats. While the professioal literature cotais a wide variety of articles detailig experieces of or suggestios for servig immigrat populatios, oly those providig umerical or statistical data are reviewed here. Aroud 1990, Amado Padilla used a focus group to gather perceptios from Latio immigrats i East Palo Alto, Califoria. Oly four of the Latios i the group had used a Califoria library. Padilla did ot state the total group size, so it is ot possible to determie what proportio this represets. Noe of the Latios had used a library i their ative coutry. 12 Susa Luevao-Molia did a qualitative study o fifty Latio, predomiately Mexica, immigrats i Sata Aa, Califoria i She foud these immigrats to have high awareess of libraries i their home coutries ad i the Uited States, with half (48%) havig used o U.S. libraries. About half (50%) had also used a public library i Sata Aa. Eve 33% of udocumeted immigrats i this study had valid library cards. Luevao-Molia reported that i Sata Aa the Latio commuity cosidered the library eutral groud where eve udocumeted immigrats ca seek to improve themselves ad obtai materials for their childre. 13 For respodets i this study, havig school-aged childre was the best predictor of library use. I a later book chapter, Luevao- Molia cites a report from the Istitute for the Future from 1996 that states that Hispaics ad Asias are Califoria s heaviest public library users. 14 Nifa Trejo iterviewed fiftee families i Arizoa i 1996; te were immigrat Latio families, three were Mexica Americas, ad two were white families. I total, sevety-oe family members, twety-six of whom were adults, were iterviewed. Oly oe perso of the sevety-oe had ever used the library, ad time sice last use of the library raged from zero to thirty years. The average legth of time sice last use of the library was two ad a half years. All of the families stated that they used the public library, ad half of the families had library cards. 15 I 2000, the State Library of North Carolia commissioed a study o the library eeds of Hispaics livig i North Carolia. From 1,003 telephoe iterviews, they foud that 26% of Hispaic respodets had used the public library at least mothly, with 40% reportig use i the past year. A regressio aalysis showed the most ifluetial factors i library use were respodet s belief that he or she lived close to a library, those who rated their Eglish-readig skills more highly, higher educatio, those that rated their Eglish-speakig skills more highly, ad those with childre uder eightee years old. 16 Fraces Flythe foud that, of sevety-oe Hispaic immigrats i Durham Couty, North Carolia, 22% had Use of Public Libraries by Immigrats used the library at some time. 17 I a 2002 study of Latio residets i Missouri, Beth Bala ad Deice Adkis coducted forty-oe door-to-door iterviews ad foud that 22% of respodets had used the library i the past six moths. 18 I geeral, these studies foud that barriers to public library use by Latio immigrats icluded cultural ufamiliarity with libraries, laguage barriers due partially to low educatio ad literacy levels, mistrust of govermet agecies, schedulig coflicts, locatio-related issues, ad cultural coflicts such as silece rules. 19 Cocerig library use by Asia immigrats, Sherry Su ad Charles Coaway iterviewed a sample of 180 elderly Chiese immigrats i the Los Ageles regio i Nearly twothirds of these respodets (63.3%) reported usig the library at some time i the past year, ad oe-fifth (19.4%) used the library more tha mothly. The most commo reasos for goig to the library were to read materials ad to borrow books. 20 Padilla foud that Korea immigrats were more likely to view libraries as quiet study areas, ot places to obtai books ad other materials. He stated that Asia immigrats were acceptig of silece i the library because it echoed cultural traditios from their home coutries. 21 I a multicultural study, Cheryl Metoyer-Dura studied the iformatio-seekig behavior of etho-liguistic commuity leaders i Califoria i She aalyzed iterviews of 120 leaders from Latio, Chiese, Japaese, Korea, ad America Idia commuities. These leaders were a mix of immigrats ad oimmigrats, with most of the Chiese ad Korea respodets bor outside the U.S., more tha half of the Latios U.S. bor, ad oly three of the Japaese bor abroad. I ratig public libraries as a iformatio source, Chiese (64%) ad Japaese (62%) leaders were most likely to rate the library as very good or good (as opposed to average or poor). About half of Latios (53%) ad Koreas (53%) rated the public library as very good or good. As for visitig the public library i the last year, the majority of commuity volume 48, issue 2 165

3 leaders had doe so: Chiese (83%), Korea (79%), Latio (79%). Japaese leaders were much less likely tha other groups to have visited the public library i the past year (33%). 22 The Urba Library Coucil surveyed 73 public libraries ad foud most of the recommedatios i the literature for successfully servig immigrat patros had bee implemeted. Their results showed that 93% of libraries surveyed had staff with multiple laguage skills, 89% had library brochures i multiple laguages, 71% coducted staff traiig o providig multicultural customer service, ad 66% had collectios i te or more laguages. 23 I summary, these studies establish a profile of geeral library users i the Uited States ad iclude iformatio o the library use of immigrats from Lati America ad Asia coutries. Little has bee doe o immigrats from other world regios, ad the studies of Lati America immigrats predomiately used small sample sizes ad were limited to particular geographic regios i the Uited States. This paper will examie the library use of immigrats from may world regios who have settled i a variety of geographic regios i the Uited States. Models of Thought o Library Use Much of the literature o immigrat library use is based upo a service model that focuses o what the library is doig or ot doig to attract patros. Research from this model iforms librarias o how to make their libraries more welcomig, attract more patros, ad create more patro satisfactio with library materials ad services. Oe aspect of the model is to make the library more appealig by reducig perceived barriers to use. Some barriers for immigrat patros that were idetified i the literature were lack of cultural sesitivity of library staff ad library policies, laguage barriers, ad icoveiet hours ad locatios. The other aspect of the service approach etails tailorig collectios ad services to idetified eeds i the patro commuity. By addressig barriers to public library use ad targetig patro commuities accurately, libraries may appeal to wider potetial patro audieces. I a pael presetatio at the April 2007 Oklahoma Library Associatio Aual Coferece, three librarias with extesive experiece workig with immigrat populatios gave suggestios for makig the library more welcomig ad useful. 24 The followig is a outlie of their commets combied with suggestios from the literature: 1. Collectios ad Programs a. Have curret (ot outdated) collectios of materials i immigrats laguages ad o topics of iterest to immigrat groups. b. Create programs o areas of iterest to ew immigrats such as immigratio law, citizeship, job searchig, health, ad literacy. 2. Staff ad Library Atmosphere a. Have biligual/bicultural staff, voluteers, tutorials, computer classes, computer iterfaces, library sigage, ad pamphlets. b. Have a hospitable atmosphere with friedly, proactive staff that ask patros if they eed help ad who are respectful of patros idividuality rather tha makig assumptios o the basis of their perceived cultural backgroud. c. Provide cultural traiig for staff that particularly icludes traiig o how to be respectful ad polite across cultural boudaries; for example, do ot touch patros or call them by their first ame because these acts of familiarity may be culturally isesitive. 3. Be i Touch with the Commuity a. Do eeds assessmets ad commuity aalyses to gather iformatio to guide collectio ad service decisios. b. Promote the library through immigrat commuity ceters, commuity leaders, religious istitutios, social services ceters, schools, ad radio advertisemets i other laguages. c. Perform outreach with bookmobiles, ew braches, ad accommodatig hours. This service model focuses o the library ad implies that whether people use the library is a fuctio of the library ad its offerigs. Most suggestios for how to icrease the library s appeal to various populatios are based o the otio that if they are offered the right combiatio of materials, programs, hours, ad locatios, people will choose to use the library. Aother model of library use examies factors of the idividual that ifluece whether that perso becomes a library user. This sociological model of library use examies a variety of social ad demographic characteristics of patros ad determies which characteristics correlate with higher rates of library use. Reviewed studies idetified socioecoomic factors such as educatio, icome level, ad occupatio as liked to likelihood of library use. While sex, race, ad marital status were ot foud to be importat predictors, age was somewhat importat, ad family variables such as livig with childre ad size of household were useful. 25 Other research foud that distace from the library ad couty size were related to library use. 26 For immigrats, cofidece i speakig ad writig i Eglish were also ifluetial. 27 Idetifyig the likely patro base i this maer is useful to libraries that are plaig marketig ad outreach efforts ad library services ad programs. I additio to idetifyig factors that correlate with higher library use, this model also addresses sociocultural aspects of idividuals that may predispose them to ot use the library. From the literature, for some immigrats these iclude cultural ufamiliarity with libraries, low educatio ad literacy levels, ad mistrust of govermet agecies. Scott Nicholso refers to this model of library use as uderstadig iformatio seekig i cotext. He states that each library user is situated i oe or more cotexts that affect their iformatio eeds ad iformatio seekig 166 Referece & User Services Quarterly

4 behavior. Most idividuals belog to several commuities, ad their cotexts ca be kow or ukow to library researchers. 28 While the sociological model presets a fudametally differet view from the service model of factors affectig public library use, the models work together quite well. Some idividuals will ot be likely to become library users because of a variety of cotexts i their backgrouds or circumstaces, so o matter what the library does it is ulikely to attract these idividuals. However, eve those who are likely to be iterested i usig the library might become ousers if their experiece of the library is upleasat for ay of a umber of reasos, or if they determie that the library does ot have materials or services that fill their eeds. It is therefore useful for libraries to be sesitive to the issues preseted by both the service ad the sociological models of library use. This study is based o the sociological model ad examies rates of public library use ad factors that might affect those rates such as the cotext of user backgrouds ad demographic iformatio. Method This study uses federal data from the Curret Populatio Survey (CPS) to examie library use. The followig are the questios the study attempted to aswer: 1. Do library usage rates vary betwee immigrats from differet regios of the world, as represeted by households of immigrats from these regios? 2. I the Uited States, are households of ative-bor residets more likely to report public library use tha those of foreig-bor residets? 3. What are some sociodemographic factors that affect rates of household public library use? The CPS is a household sample survey that is coducted several moths out of every year by the U.S. Bureau of the Cesus to collect labor force data. Other iformatio is occasioally gathered by icludig supplemetal questios. Data for the preset study were collected with the CPS October 2002: School Erollmet/Library Use supplemet. The sample uiverse for the CPS is the U.S. civilia oistitutioalized populatio livig i households. The samplig method is a multistage probability sample of households from all fifty states ad the District of Columbia, ad data are gathered usig a series of structured, closed-eded questios. Households are selected, the data are gathered about all persos i the household. Oe perso i the household becomes the referece perso ad aswers questios for all members of the household if possible. The referece perso must be fiftee years of age or older. Sice households are chose ad ot idividuals or families, data are gathered about all household members o matter their relatioships to each other. The October 2002 dataset cotaied 159,887 respodets that lived i 57,148 households. 29 Some of the questios regularly asked by the CPS cocer each idividual i the household, such as the coutry i which a perso was bor, coutry i which each paret was bor, educatio level, ad other demographic iformatio. Other questios are asked about the household, such as Is there a telephoe i the household? All of the library use questios i this supplemet were asked of the household, ad ot of idividuals i the household. It is ot possible to determie which idividuals i a household used the public library i the past moth, oly whether ayoe i the household used the library. For this study a household variable was created that specified the immigrat status of the household overall. Households were coded as cosistig of U.S. bor persos, immigrats by world regio of origi, or mixed. Households i which childre of immigrats were uder age 25 were coded to the immigrat regio of the parets ad ot as mixed households, eve though childre of immigrats bor i the U.S. are cosidered ative-bor Americas. Use of Public Libraries by Immigrats Immigrat households i which U.S.- bor childre or other U.S. bor adults age 25 ad older resided were classified as mixed households ad ot aalyzed i this study. Households from mixed world regios, but ot cotaiig ative-bor Americas age 25 or over were coded to the world regio of the referece perso. Native-bor U.S. citizes who were bor abroad were coded i the U.S. bor household category. These idividuals might, for example, iclude those bor to military families statioed abroad, travelers, ad others whose parets were abroad at the time of their birth. Respodets coded as beig from elsewhere were elimiated from the aalysis. Respodets from Australia, New Zealad, Fiji, ad the Pacific Islads were also ot aalyzed because there were too few to make meaigful comparisos. Statistical Methods Used Two techiques of data compariso were used i the aalysis. The mai discussio compares percetages of differet groups use of the public library. Secodly, chi-square was used to determie whether the amout of differece betwee two groups was likely to have occurred from chace aloe, or whether the differece was large eough to suggest a actual differece betwee groups. Whe the differece betwee groups is large eough to be ulikely to have happeed by chace, that is referred to as statistically sigificat. The chi-squares i this aalysis were coducted o the frequecies (actual umbers) ad were calculated for 2 x 2 cotigecy tables at a.05 alpha level. Chi-square is sesitive to sample size, so this statistic could ot be calculated for the ative-bor U.S. citizes because fifty thousad households were too may for the test to have meaig. Sice the immigrat groups were represeted by far fewer households, it was appropriate to coduct chi-square o differeces betwee these groups. I the data aalysis discussio, whe it states that the differece betwee volume 48, issue 2 167

5 certai groups was sigificat, it is referrig to the chi-square calculatio betwee those groups showig statistical sigificace. Chi-square was used i the data aalysis sectio o library use by immigrat groups, but it was ot used i the sectio o additioal demographic variables because the multilevel aalyses resulted i smaller sample sizes per table cell. I additio, percetages were ot calculated whe sample size for a cell was twety-five or fewer households. Limitatios of the Study There are limitatios to usig available data. Researchers usig available data are restricted to the questios asked by the origial researchers. Questios ofte do ot represet exactly what the curret researcher wats to kow. How the data were coded ad etered is also uder the cotrol of the origial researchers ad may ot be as useful for secodary aalysis as it might have bee if coded i a differet maer. A specific limitatio of the data i this study is that the library questios were asked at a household level. A more idepth picture of immigrat library use could have bee established if the questios had bee aswered by idividuals i the household. There were o qualitative data available for this study. As a result, oly the geeral picture of library use is available, but ot the type of idividual reasoig that might have bee available with additioal qualitative data. Data Aalysis Three questios were asked about geeral library use. I the past moth, that is sice (moth) (day), has ay member of your household used a public library or bookmobile for ay reaso? Respodets who aswered o to the first questio were the probed for additioal affirmative resposes with the followig questio, How about to borrow materials, take a class, to use the computers or for activities for childre? Resposes to these two questios were combied to get a overall figure for public library use i the past moth. Respodets who aswered o to these two questios were the asked, Has ayoe i your household used a public library or bookmobile i the past year, that is sice October, 2001? Aswers to the library use questios were crosstabulated with the immigrat household variable to produce the followig figures. As ca be see i figure 1, respodets from some geographic regios were more likely to have used the public library i the past moth tha respodets from other regios. Differeces betwee groups had a rage of 21.5 percetage poits from a low of 23.2% for Europea households to a high of 44.7% for South Asia households. Excludig these two outliers, all other households fell withi 10 percetage poits of each other, from Cetral America or Mexica households at 27.2% to Southeast Asia households at 37.3%. Not all of the differeces betwee groups were large eough to be meaigful. Usig the lowest (Europea) ad highest (South Asia) library use as the compariso groups for calculatio, the poit where the chi-square test showed a sigificat differece betwee groups divided them ito low, middle, ad high categories of library use i the past moth as follows: Low use: Households classified as Europea, Cetral America or Mexica, Caadia or other North America, Caribbea, East Europea, ad Middle Easter Middle use: Households classified as Africa, U.S. ative-bor, East Asia High use: Households classified as South Asia, Southeast Asia, ad South America Whe calculatig statistical sigificace, there was some overlap betwee groups i the middle category ad groups i the lower ad higher categories. For example, while the differece betwee Middle Easter households i the lower use category ad East Asia households i the middle category was ot sigificat, the differece betwee Easter Europea households ad East Asia households was sigificat. From the middle to the upper levels, the differece betwee East Asia households ad Southeast Asia was sigificat, but the differeces betwee East Asia Figure 1. Someoe I Household Used Public Library I Past Moth (Numbers I Percetages) Europe =454 Cetral Am./Mexico =1,488 Caribbea =488 Caada/Other N. Am. =131 East Europe =323 Middle East =176 East Asia =452 Africa =145 U.S. ative-bor =50, South America = South Asia =264 Southeast Asia = Referece & User Services Quarterly

6 Use of Public Libraries by Immigrats households to South America ad Africa to South America households were ot sigificat. Figure 2 shows rates of public library use i the past year. Cocerig this use, durig the past year Europea households were oce agai the least likely to have used the library at 37.8%. South Asia households were agai the most likely library users at 57.9%, a rage of 20.1 percetage poits. While rates of public library use for all households wet up whe comparig use i the past moth to the past year, the placemet by geographic regio i low-, middle-, ad high-use categories stayed the same for all groups except for Caadia or other North America, which jumped from the low-use to the high-use group. This suggests that the factors that affected decisios to use the public library remaied cosistet from a mothly to a yearly basis. While the low-, middle-, ad highuse group cutoffs i figures 1 ad 2 were chose o the basis of calculatios of statistical sigificace, lookig at the tables would suggest that a practical divisio might move the group boudaries slightly. This is particularly clear i figure 2, i which it seems that Middle East should be moved from the lower to the middle category ad Caadia ad other North America should be moved dow from the upper to the middle category. SocioDemographic Aalysis I the literature, the eeds of ewly arrived immigrats differed from those of established immigrats. New immigrats eed iformatio o jobs, housig, literacy/esl, ad citizeship. As immigrats become more established, their library eeds bled with those of U.S. bor patros. Year of etry by world regio idicates that there is quite a differece i the immigratio patters of people from differet world regios. Table 1 shows, for example, that more tha 75% of Europea immigrats arrived prior to 1989, so patros from that group will likely have fewer Figure 2. Someoe I Household Used Public Library I Past Year (Numbers I Percetages) East Europe =323 Europe =454 Cetral Am./Mexico =1, Caribbea = Middle East =176 Africa =145 specialized library eeds tha other groups. About two-thirds of Caadia ad other North America respodets also immigrated by Coversely, half or more of respodets from the followig regios came to the Uited States after 1989: Africa (69.7%), South Asia (62.7%), East Europe (59.4%), Cetral America or Mexico (55.0%), ad South America (51.1%). Factors affectig treds i immigratio ad citizeship are complex, ad a legthy discussio of the political history of world regios, immigratio legislatio, ad immigratio policy will ot be egaged i here. Very briefly, it ca be see from table 1 that the patters of immigratio by decade vary sigificatly betwee geographic groups. As metioed above, this ca be a importat cosideratio for librarias who are workig o collectio developmet because established immigrats have differet library eeds from ewly arrived immigrats. Of the demographic variables examied i previous studies, educatio level had the strogest impact o whether people used libraries. Whe the U.S. Cesus Bureau calculates educatio level, they do so for adults ages 25 ad over, presumably to give time to East Asia =452 U.S. ative bor =50,162 reasoably assume educatioal completio. For the adults ages 25 ad over i these CPS data, the followig was the educatio distributio at the lowest level: 60.0% of adults from Cetral America or Mexico completed less tha high school educatio. 31.4% of adults from the Caribbea completed less tha high school educatio. 20.2% or fewer adults from all other geographic groups completed less tha high school educatio. For groups with the highest educatio levels, the followig was their distributio: South America =295 Caada/Other N. Am. =131 Southeast Asia = South Asia = % of adults from South Asia had completed at least some college. 70.9% of adults from Africa had completed at least some college. 50% of adults from all other groups except Cetral America or Mexico, the Caribbea, ad South America had completed at least some college. Effective public library advertisig volume 48, issue 2 169

7 campaigs for groups with higher educatio levels might differ from those aimed at groups with lower educatio levels, as will appropriate collectios, programs, ad services. Of course, librarias must remember that group data caot be applied to idividuals. For example, while 60% of immigrat adults from Cetral America or Mexico did ot complete high school, it is ot appropriate to assume that ay particular patro falls ito that category. These umbers are oly useful for library plaig to best serve the commuity, ot to erroeously peg ay idividual as havig a group characteristic. Table 2 examies library use i the past moth by educatio level withi geographic categories. Whe all households i the dataset were examied together, there was a direct ad liear relatioship betwee educatio level of household referece perso ad likelihood that someoe i the household used the public library i the past moth. The data for all respodet households together were as follows ( = 43,440 households): For referece persos with less tha a high school educatio, 16.1% of households used the library i the past moth. For referece persos with a high school diploma or GED, 24.2%. For referece persos with some college or a associate s degree, 33.9%. For referece persos with a bachelor s degree, 41.2%. For referece persos with a graduate degree, 46.0%. As illustrated i Table 2, while this liear relatioship was predomiately reflected o matter which immigrat group was examied, there were a few iterestig differeces. Particularly iterestig was that at the lowest educatio level, households of respodets from South America, Southeast Asia, ad Cetral America or Mexico were far more likely to have used the library i the past moth tha other groups i this educatio category. I other words, while educatio has bee show i Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Study Respodets ad Households Africa Middle East South Asia East Asia South East Asia Europe East Europe South Am. Caribbea Cetral Am. & Mexico Caada, Other N. Am. U.S. Native Bor = 1,320 = 633 = 459 = 379 = 804 = 1,301 = 485 = 4,663 = 1,799 = 853 = 1,720 Decade of Immigratio Up to % 6.8% 23.0% 11.6% 49.2% 19.0% 12.4% 8.9% 3.8% 9.8% 6.1% % 11.6% 16.3% 13.5% 15.1% 7.8% 15.6% 20.1% 11.1% 22.2% 8.7% % 26.6% 23.8% 23.8% 12.9% 13.7% 24.8% 27.8% 22.4% 23.1% 15.6% % 42.1% 28.6% 33.3% 17.8% 48.1% 34.7% 34.7% 49.4% 32.5% 50.7% % 12.9% 8.2% 17.8% 5.1% 11.3% 12.5% 8.6% 13.3% 12.4% 19.0% = 1,087 = 525 = 374 = 279 = 416 = 3,379 = 1,480 = 685 = 1,487 = 645 = 1,061 = 95,780 Educatio of Adults 25+ <High school 11.8% 20.2% 60.0% 31.4% 18.8% 14.9% 12.1% 13.8% 17.3% 7.4% 11.3% 7.9% High school 33.7% 19.7% 21.7% 31.9% 32.4% 30.9% 31.8% 24.0% 22.4% 12.4% 28.1% 21.1% Some college 27.5% 23.3% 11.7% 19.8% 20.6% 23.6% 20.0% 14.7% 23.1% 6.7% 16.3% 25.4% Bachelors 17.8% 22.4% 4.9% 11.6% 19.9% 16.7% 19.4% 26.6% 31.4% 34.3% 23.5% 29.4% Grad degree 9.2% 14.4% 1.8% 5.4% 8.3% 14.0% 16.7% 20.9% 5.8% 39.2% 20.6% 16.1% 170 Referece & User Services Quarterly

8 Use of Public Libraries by Immigrats may studies to be the best predictor of library use, this does ot apply i the same maer to some immigrat groups. This differece is most likely the result of a iterveig variable such as presece of childre i the household, family size, or aother uidetified variable. Some other poits of iterest from the table iclude the fact that Europea ad East Europea households were least likely to have used the public library i the past moth tha other groups i early all categories. Betwee the categories of some college ad bachelor s ad higher, those with bachelor s degrees or higher from Southeast Asia appear to have used the library less tha those who had completed oly some college. Geographic regios that did ot have eough households to calculate library use withi these multiple levels (twety-five or fewer households i some table cells) were Middle East, Caada or other North America, Africa, ad South Asia. Two previous studies foud perceived distace from the public library to be related to library use rates. 30 Respodets who perceived that they lived closer to the library had higher rates of use tha those who thought of the library as farther away. Whe households of U.S. bor respodets ( = 49,915) were aalyzed o library use by distace from the library, there was a egative relatioship betwee distace to the library ad likelihood of library use i the past moth by people i the household. At various distaces from the library, rates of public library use i the past moth were less tha 1 mile, 35.9% of households used the public library; 1 2 miles, 32.6%; 3 5 miles, 29.6%; 6 10 miles, 25.3%; ad more tha 10 miles, 19.8%. While early 20% of oimmigrat households were located six or more miles from a public library, immigrat households were much less likely to be that far away (6 11%). This suggests that Table 2. Used Public Library i Past Moth by Educatio Level of Household Referece Perso ad Geographic Regio of Household Members Origi (umbers i percetages) Regio of Household Members Origi immigrats are somewhat more likely tha oimmigrats to live i cities ad tows, ad less likely to live i rural areas farther from libraries. I this dataset there were ot eough immigrat households at the further distaces to aalyze, so the categories were collapsed to less tha a mile, oe to two miles, ad more tha two miles. Immigrat households did ot show the same clear correlatio betwee distace from the library ad library use show by oimmigrat households. Table 3 shows that four immigrat groups had the same patter as oimmigrat households of decreased library use with icreased distace (Middle Easter, Caribbea, East Europea, ad Cetral America or Mexica). Three immigrat groups had the highest use i the middle category, oe to two miles from the library (South Asia, Africa, ad East Asia). The remaiig four immigrat groups had little to o effect o library use by distace (South America, Southeast Asia, Europea, ad Caadia or other North America). Caada or other North America did show a slight icrease of 5 percetage poits as distace icreased. These data suggest that for immigrat groups, distace of household from public library is ot a good predictor of library use. From the literature review, umber of persos i household was foud to have o effect o use of public libraries. I table 4 it ca be see that ideed <HS HS/GED Some College BA+ South America ( = 279) Southeast Asia ( = 403) Cetral Am./Mexico ( = 1,330) Caribbea ( = 461) U.S. bor ( = 47,308) East Asia ( = 414) Europea ( = 439) East Europea ( = 308) households with more people were much more likely to have used the public library i the past moth tha households with oly oe or two people. For all households except those of Caadias or other North Americas, the rates of library use for three or more people were more tha double the rates for oe to two people. Sice this dataset does ot have idividual-level data, it caot be determied whether the higher use rate for larger households is a result of more potetial library users i the household, the presece of childre (also foud i the literature to affect library use), or whether idividuals i larger households are more likely to use the public library for some other reaso. Some immigrat geographic regios are much more likely to have larger households tha immigrats from other regios. For example, oly 9.5% of immigrats from Cetral America or Mexico live i oe-perso households, while 49.1% of Europea immigrats live aloe. Households most likely to have oly oe or two persos were, i descedig order, Europea, Caadia or other North America, East Europea, U.S. bor, ad Africa (from 77.2 to 59.3%). Oly 25.2% of Cetral America or Mexica households had oly oe or two people. I summary for this sectio, sociodemographic variables ca be useful predictors for library use, but their effect does ot always apply to immigrat volume 48, issue 2 171

9 groups i the same way as to households of U.S. bor residets. While educatio level of household referece perso ad umber of persos i household correlated to likelihood of public library use, geographic origi of household members was a importat modifier that affected the use of these variables as predictors. Table 3. Used Public Library i Past Moth by Distace from Library ad Geographic Regio of Household Members Origi (umbers i percetages) Regio of Household Members Origi <1 mile 1 2 miles >2 miles Library Use Decreased with Distace Middle East ( = 176) U.S bor ( = 49,915) Caribbea ( = 487) Applyig the Results of the Study A library could apply these data results by usig them i cojuctio with a commuity profile to predict library use patters of differet immigrat groups. A commuity profile ca give geeral figures of the size of the various immigrat groups i a particular commuity. Size of the immigrat group from the commuity profile ca be combied with likelihood of usig the library from this study to give a predictive figure of possible library use by that immigrat group. While South Asias, for example, are more likely to use the library, immigrats from Cetral America or Mexico might be more likely to have a larger presece i the commuity, ad that may result i more umbers of library users from Cetral America or Mexico. Idetifyig the likely patro base is useful to libraries that are plaig marketig ad outreach efforts. Predictig the iformatio eeds of the commuity base ca help the library make good program ad materials decisios such as laguages i which to purchase materials, literacy levels to target, ad other patro special eeds. Library outreach ad collectio developmet efforts could take ito accout factors such as average educatio levels, years of etry, ad household size whe plaig for differet groups. I additio to this, the best way i ay give commuity to fid out the library eeds of commuity members is through outreach to commuity leaders who kow their populatios ad are i touch with their iformatio eeds. This study shows that useful East Europe ( = 324) Cetral America/Mexico ( = 1,485) Library Use Highest i Middle Category South Asia ( = 265) Africa ( = 145) East Asia ( = 451) Distace had Little Impact o Library Use South America ( = 295) Southeast. Asia ( = 423) Europe ( = 450) Caada/other North America ( = 131) Table 4. Used Public Library i Past Moth by Number of Persos i Household ad Geographic Regio of Household Members Origi (umbers i percetages) Regio of Household Members Origi 1 2 persos predictive variables for library use by immigrats iclude regio of world 3+ persos South Asia ( = 265) Caada/other North America ( = 131) U.S. bor ( = 49,915) South America ( = 295) Southeast Asia ( = 423) Africa ( = 145) East Asia ( = 451) Caribbea ( = 487) East Europe ( = 324) Middle East ( = 176) Europe ( = 450) Cetral America/Mexico ( = 1,485) from which they immigrated, educatio level (i this study educatio level 172 Referece & User Services Quarterly

10 of household referece perso), ad umber of persos i the household. Distace from the library was ot a good predictor of library use for immigrats. Compariso of Study Results with Prior Studies It is difficult to compare the results of this study to the previous studies cited i the literature review because the variables were defied differetly betwee studies. Bala ad Adkis stated that 22% of Latio residets of a Missouri couty had used the library i the past 6 moths. 31 Flythe reported 22% of Hispaic immigrats surveyed i North Carolia had used the public library, but without specifyig withi a specific period of time. 32 Rico ad Associates foud that 40% of predomiately foreig-bor Hispaics i North Carolia had used the library i the past year. 33 Luevao-Molia reported 50% of Latio immigrats i Sata Aa, Califoria had used the public library withi a uspecified time period. 34 Metoyer-Dura foud 79% of Latio commuity leaders had used the library i the past year. Over half of her respodets were U.S. bor. 35 I Trejo s study, 70 out of 71 respodets had used a library at some time i their lives. Her respodets were a mixture of Hispaic immigrats, Mexica Americas, ad U.S. whites. 36 The curret study data showed that Caribbea ad Cetral America/Mexica immigrat households used public libraries at basically the same rate, 28.6% ad 27.2% i the past moth. Similar to the study by Rico ad Associates, 40.1% ad 38.2% had used libraries i the past year. South America immigrat households had a slightly higher, but statistically differet, use rate of 36.6% i the past moth ad 49.8% i the past year. There were two previous studies o Asias use of U.S. public libraries. Su ad Coway reported that 63.3% of elderly Chiese immigrats i the Los Ageles, Califoria regio had used the public library i the past year. 37 Metoyer-Dura foud that Chiese ad Korea commuity iformatio leaders i Califoria used the public library at a rate of 83% for Chiese ad 79% for Korea i the past year. Most of her Chiese ad Korea respodets were immigrats. 38 I both of these studies the East Asia respodets used the public library at a higher rate tha those i the curret study which showed East Asia households usig the public library at a rate of 33.8% i the past moth ad 48.0% i the past year. As with previous geeral studies, these data showed that educatio level was strogly correlated with public library use. This study also supported the previous assertio that family size, or umber i household, affected library use. While Rico ad Associates ad Burke foud distace to the library to be a useful predictor of library use i other studies, that variable was ot a good predictor for immigrat households i this study. 39 Suggestios for Future Research The most importat chage suggested for future studies is to gather data for idividuals rather tha household-level library use. With idividual use data, idividual demographic data for immigrats such as year of etry, Eglishlaguage proficiecy, ad citizeship status (aturalized versus ocitize) could be explored as possible cotributors to likelihood of usig the library. Educatio level of the idividual rather tha educatio level of the household referece perso would be a more valuable predictor. Some household variables idetified i the literature deserve further study such as presece of school-aged childre i the family, household icome, ad level of Eglish-laguage readig ad speakig skills. While the literature idetified several barriers for use by Latio immigrats, this iformatio has ot bee idetified for immigrat groups from other world regios. Similarly, while library materials ad programs most useful for Latio immigrats have bee studied ad some suggestios for Asia Use of Public Libraries by Immigrats patros have bee made, additioal studies that gather data o most useful materials for immigrats from other regios could help librarias servig these patros. The previous studies o Latio immigrats are o sigle U.S. geographic regios. Comparative aalyses of library eeds, for example, of Latio immigrats i Califoria versus those i New York could shed light o regioal differeces i the Uited States. Similar studies o other immigrat groups would also be useful. The literature suggests that ewly arrived Latio immigrats eed more iformatio o practical issues such as fidig jobs, housig, learig Eglish, ad learig computer skills. Do immigrats from other regios display these same eeds? While this study examied the tedecy of immigrats to use the public library, future studies eed to examie to what use immigrat library patros put their libraries. While this study cotaied oly quatitative data, qualitative studies could erich the kowledge base by givig immigrats a voice to articulate for themselves the barriers they perceive, the iformatio eeds they wat the library to fill, ad their perceptios of the public library. The literature idetified several meas of reachig immigrats such as focus groups at commuity ceters, door to door iterviewig, ad street-corer cavassig. I coclusio, the picture that library professioals have of immigrats use of public libraries is icomplete. While additioal studies of the library use of immigrats from Lati America ad Asia would be useful, there is a particular eed for studies of immigrats from other world regios. Refereces Yearbook of Immigratio Statistics (Washigto, D.C.: U.S. Departmet of Homelad Security, Office of Immigratio Statistics, 2004), shared/statistics/yearbook/2003/2003 Yearbook.pdf (accessed Aug. 23, 2006). 2. Campbell Gibso ad Kay Jug, Historical Cesus Statistics of the Foreig-bor Populatio of the Uited States: : Workig Paper No. 81 (U.S. Cesus Bureau, volume 48, issue 2 173

11 Populatio Divisio, 2006), twps0081/twps0081.pdf (accessed July 25, 2008). 3. The Foreig-bor Populatio i 2004 (U.S. Cesus Bureau, Populatio Profile of the Uited States: Dyamic Versio), (accessed July 25, 2008). 4. Public Library Services to New Americas: Speedig Trasitios to Learig, Work ad Life i the U.S. (Evasto, Ill.: Urba Libraries Coucil, 2003): Waye A. Wiegad, A Active Istrumet for Propagada: The America Public Library Durig World War I (Westport, Co.: Greewood, 1989): Lawrece J. White, The Public Library i the 1980s: The Problems of Choice (Lexigto, Mass.: Lexigto Books, 1983); Douglas Zweizig ad Breda Dervi, Public Library Use, Users, Uses: Advaces i Kowledge of the Characteristics ad Needs of the Adult Clietele of America Public Libraries, i Advaces i Librariaship, ed. Melvi J. Voigt ad Michael H. Harris (New York: Academic Pr., 1977): Zweizig ad Dervi, Public Library Use, Users, Uses, Ibid., Judith Paye, Public Libraries Face Califoria s Ethic ad Racial Diversity (Sata Moica, Calif.: Rad, 1988). 10. Carol L. Krous, Patters of Adult Library Use: A Regressio ad Path Aalysis, Adult Educatio 23 (Witer 1973): Zweizig ad Dervi, Public Library Use, Users, Uses. 12. Amado M. Padilla, Public Library Services for Immigrat Populatios i Califoria (Sacrameto, Calif.: Califoria State Library Foudatio, 1991). 13. Susa Luevao-Molia, Ethographic Perspectives o Tras-atioal Mexica Immigrat Library Users, i Library Services to Latios: A Athology, ed. Salvadore Guerea (Jefferso, N.C.: McFarlad, 2000): Susa Luevao-Molia, Mexica/Latio Immigrats ad the Sata Aa Public Library: A Urba Ethography, i Immigrat Politics ad the Public Library, ed. Susa Luevao-Molia (Westport, Co.: Greewood, 2001): Nifa Almace Trejo, Impact of Propositio 187 o Public Libraries ad Elemetary Educatio i Tucso, Arizoa, i Immigrat Politics ad the Public Library, ed. Susa Luevao-Molia (Westport, Co.: Greewood, 2001): Rico ad Associates, Survey of Library Needs for North Carolia Hispaics (2000) (accessed Oct. 5, 2006). 17. Fraces H. Flythe, Idetificatio of the Iformatio Needs of Newly Arrived Hispaic/Latio Immigrats i Durham Couty, North Carolia, ad How the Public Library May Address Those Need (master s thesis, Chapel Hill, N.C.: Uiversity of North Carolia, 2001), (accessed Oct. 5, 2006). 18. Beth Bala ad Deice Adkis, Library ad Iformatio Needs of Latios i Dukli Couty, Missouri, Public Libraries 43 (Mar./Apr. 2004): Paye, Public Libraries Face Califoria s Ethic ad Racial Diversity; Padilla, Public Library Services for Immigrat Populatios i Califoria; Jo Sudell, Library Service to Hispaic Immigrats of Forsyth Couty, North Carolia: A Commuity Collaboratio, i Library Services to Latios: A Athology, ed. Salvadore Guerea (Jefferso, N.C.: McFarlad, 2000): ; Rico ad Associates, Survey of Library Needs for North Carolia Hispaics; Bala ad Adkis, Library ad Iformatio Needs of Latios i Dukli Couty, Missouri. 20. Sherry Shiua Su ad Charles W. Coaway, Iformatio ad a Forgotte Miority: Elderly Chiese Immigrats, Library ad Iformatio Sciece Research 17 (Witer 1995): Padilla, Public Library Services for Immigrat Populatios i Califoria. 22. Cheryl Metoyer-Dura, Gatekeepers i Etholiguistic Commuities (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1993). 23. Public Library Services to New Americas. 24. Louis Escobar-Matute, Joa-Mig Huag, ad Sara Martiez, Laguage Barriers: How Do You Hadle Them? (pael preseted at the aual meetig of the Oklahoma Library Associatio, Oklahoma City, Apr. 4, 2007). 25. Zweizig ad Dervi, Public Library Use, Users, Uses ; Paye, Public Libraries Face Califoria s Ethic ad Racial Diversity; Krous, Patters of Adult Library Use. 26. Susa K. Burke, Use of Public Libraries by Native Americas, Library Quarterly 77 (Oct. 2007), ; Krous, Patters of Adult Library Use. 27. Rico ad Associates, Survey of Library Needs for North Carolia Hispaics. 28. Scott Nicholso, Uderstadig Commuities of Library Users through Iformatio Seekig ad Retrieval i Cotext, forthcomig. 29. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Cesus, Curret Populatio Survey, October 2002: School Erollmet/Library Use [Computer file]. ICPSR release (Washigto, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Cesus [producer], 2004; A Arbor, Mich.: Iter-uiversity Cosortium for Political ad Social Research [distributor]). 30. Burke, Use of Public Libraries by Native Americas ; Rico ad Associates, Survey of Library Needs for North Carolia Hispaics. 31. Bala ad Adkis, Library ad Iformatio Needs of Latios i Dukli Couty, Missouri. 32. Flythe, Idetificatio of the Iformatio Needs of Newly Arrived Hispaic/Latio Immigrats. 33. Rico ad Associates, Survey of Library Needs for North Carolia Hispaics. 34. Luevao-Molia, Ethographic Perspectives o Tras-atioal Mexica Immigrat Library Users. 35. Metoyer-Dura, Gatekeepers i Etholiguistic Commuities. 36. Trejo, Impact of Propositio Su ad Coaway, Iformatio ad a Forgotte Miority. 38. Metoyer-Dura, Gatekeepers i Etholiguistic Commuities. 39. Burke, Use of Public Libraries by Native Americas ; Rico ad Associates, Survey of Library Needs for North Carolia Hispaics. 174 Referece & User Services Quarterly