Immigrant Services in Libraries. Walking the Lines Between Erasure, Inclusion, and Exchange

Transcription

1 Immigrant Services in Libraries Walking the Lines Between Erasure, Inclusion, and Exchange

2 Introductions and Agenda Amelea Kim: Origin of Immigrant Services in Libraries Claire Payne: Current State of Immigrant Services in LIS Meg Foster: Potential of Community Partnerships Amelia Midgett-Nicholson: Future Outlook Discussion/Q&A

3 Goals for the Panel a. Provide a broad context of immigrant services within the librarianship field, past, present, and future b. Present a finite, though not comprehensive, list of things to consider when thinking about immigrant services, especially immigrant services on the more fundamental and philosophical level c. Inspire further discussion at the end of, and beyond, this panel

4 Definitions and Scope 1. Assimilation 2. Integration 3. Immigrant Populations 4. Scope

5 Origin of Immigrant Services in Libraries Image

6 Changes in American Society From : 26 million immigrants came to the US Perception of immigration as a problem in the 19th century Immigrant services were reactionary, not visionary Image

7 Ideals vs. Reality - Libraries as egalitarian bastions vs. societal mirror - Libraries as institutions with social agendas - George Ticknor and the Boston Public Library - Common goal = Assimilation. The question is HOW? Image

8 John Foster Carr Actively enlisted help of public librarians Believed the library to be the most effective Americanizing force Believed in cultural diversity and cultural tolerance ALA Committee for Work with the Foreign Born (1918) - to extend the knowledge and use of libraries among the foreign-born, especially the unassimilated foreign born Image

9 Immigrant Agency Not everything was done TO immigrants Thriving cultures of knowledge and information among immigrant communities Many immigrants rose to prominence in intellectual circles of their own merit Andrew Carnegie, an immigrant from Scotland, was hugely influential in the development of libraries in America

10 Image Current State of Immigrant Services in LIS

11 Burke, S. K. (2008). Use of Public Libraries by Immigrants. Reference & User Services Quarterly; Chicago, 48(2),

12 Some Common Approaches in Public Libraries: The Bilingual Librarian Some recent job ads: Must be bilingual in English and Spanish. (Corona, CA, Youth Services Library Assistant) Bilingual skills highly desirable (Mapleton, UT, Children s Librarian) Preferred: Fluent bilingual language skills. (Nashville, TN, Library Associate)

13 Some Common Approaches in Public Libraries: Collection Development Collection goal and outcome: Offer materials in languages that represent Arlington s ethnically and linguistically diverse community (Arlington Public Library Collection Development Policy) The collection serves the recreational and basic information needs of native speakers, the general public and those learning English and other languages. (San Francisco Public Library Collection Development Plan for the Kresge Foundation International Center) Image

14 Some Common Approaches in Public Libraries: Multilingual Programming Spanish-language or bilingual storytimes and other children s programs We ll return to this in a moment!

15 An Academic Library Approach: McGill Library (Montreal) 33% of McGill students are non-native French or English speakers; 25% are international Fall, 2015: librarians offered orientation sessions in five languages (English, French, Mandarin Chinese, Persian, and Spanish) Received positive feedback from participants (Zhao et al., 2016) Image

16 Immigrant Services in North Carolina Image Flagship program: North Carolina Foreign Language Center (NCFLC) Based at the Cumberland County Public Library and Information Center (Fayetteville) Established 1976; ceased service in 2011 Subsidized by State Library with LSCA/LSTA grant funding; later partially funded by subscriptions

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18 The Potential of Community Partnerships Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

19 What are Community Partnerships? - According to the ALA s Special Presidential Committee - Community Partnerships Initiative ( ), community partnerships are developed in order to address and solve common issues by educating, creating discussion, and sharing resources among all parties, including stakeholders, involved - Community partners can include: - Non-profit organizations Government agencies Local businesses Colleges/universities Private institutions

20 Why are Community Partnerships Valuable? - Fill in gaps where libraries lack enough funding, staff, or time - De-isolate the library / reduce library anxiety among members of immigrant populations - Identify additional patron bases previously unknown to or unreachable by the library - Encourage new community relationships and future opportunities for collaboration

21 What Do Community Partnerships Look Like? Community partnerships can look like a lot of things! Photos

22 Examples of Good Community Partnerships The University of British Columbia s Chinese Canadian Stories: Uncommon Histories from a Common Past Image

23 Sophie Maier and the Louisville Free Public Library PHOTO COURTESY THE LIBRARY JOURNAL/lfplfoundation.org

24 Partnerships with non-profits and government agencies: - Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative (RIFLI) and Providence public libraries - Southwest Key Immigrant Youth Shelter and San Diego Public Library - Immigrant Justice Corps and New American Campaign and Brooklyn Public Library - New York City Department of Small Business Services and Brooklyn Public Library Photo

25 Tips: Getting Started on a Community Partnership - Go out into your community and get to know its members - Talk to other librarians about their immigrant services - Subscribe to newsletters from organizations that work with immigrant populations in your community - Talk to members from immigrant communities that may be willing to serve as project advisors or leaders - Offer volunteer opportunities to members of immigrant communities, especially youth - Involve interest local MLIS student in immigrant services - Read up on related topics (i.e. non-profit and governmental partnerships, educational services and resources for immigrant students, etc.)

26 Future Outlook image

27 How can LIS professionals serve immigrant communities in the future? Start with MSLS Programs Language requirement 46 percent of Latinos still do not use libraries due to the lack of Spanish speaking staff or access to Spanish language materials (Flores & Pachon, 2008) Service learning Diversity coursework

28 Knowledge River Program at the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science Focus on Latinx and Native American communities To date, over 170 students have graduated Elements of the program Image

29 Advocating for immigrant communities Trump s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies fear and distrust of institutions DACA ICE raids and deportation Border wall Libraries as trusted safe places, and symbols of government Advocate for immigrant communities, protect core LIS values ALA Library Bill of Rights Freedom of information Right to privacy Equal access to information

30 Public library legal services Options depending on resources, expertise, language Online resources Simple, clear language Connect to community partners Board of Immigration Appeals Recognition and Accreditation After training, nonprofits can apply to become certified to provide legal assistance Hartford Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, Addison Public Library (IL) Image

31 Immigration detention centers An often overlooked community Do not have the same legal protections as prisoners in criminal system Advocate for adequate law libraries in detention centers Access to law libraries: Empowers detainees to represent themselves Gives them tools to address potential mistreatment Helps ensure a fair and just legal system Without access to information, there can be no justice. - Public Law Library of King County

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33 Some questions to get us started! I. Does a library where you work provide particular programming or services for immigrant populations? II. What services can libraries reasonably provide? What should their role be? What do we do when we can t do everything? III. How does the current political climate impact the nature of immigrant services in publicly-funded institutions?

34 A few helpful resources Cho, A. (2011). Bringing history to the library: University-community engagement in the academic library. Computers in Libraries, 31(4), Cuban, S. (2007). Serving new immigrant communities in the library. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited. Dankowski, T. (n.d.). Librarians as Immigration Lawyers. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from Fain, E. (1983). Books for new citizens: Public libraries and Americanization programs, In R. M. Aderman (Ed.), The quest for social justice: The Morris Fromkin memorial lectures, (pp ). Milwaukee, Wis.: Golda Meir Library, University of Wisconsin Press. Koerber, J. (2016). CELEBRATION & INTEGRATION. Library Journal, 141(10), Montiel-Overall, P., & Littletree, S. (2010). Knowledge River: A case study of a library and information science program focusing on Latino and Native American perspectives. Library Trends, 59(1), Pokorny, R. (2003). Library services to immigrants and non-native speakers of English: From our past to our present. Bookmobiles & Outreach Services, 6(2), Zhao, J. C., Torabi, N., & Smith, S. (2016). Meeting campus linguistic diversity: A multilingual library orientation approach. The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 1(1). Retrieved from

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