Research At Your Service! ¡Investigaciones para servirles!

Latinos & their Information Needs on Center Stage

REFORMA President’s Program

19691970

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19751976

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19811982

19831984

19851986

19871988

19891990

19911992

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19951996

19971998

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20072008

20092010

20112012

20130

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Publication about Library Services to Latinos is Growing, from one paper in 1969 to 49 in 2012.

Library Journal

American Libraries

Library Services to Youth of Hispanic Heritage

Celebrating Cuentos

The power of language / El poder de la palabra

Library Services for Latinos: An Anthology

Pathways to Progress

Biblio-Política

Library Services for Hispanic Children

Latino Librarianship: A Handbook for Professionals

Immigrant Politics and the Public Library

Literacy, Access, and Libraries among the Language Minority Population

Library Media Connection

School Library Journal

Reference & User Services Quarterly/RQ

Public Libraries

Alternative Library Literature

Library Trends

Proceedings of the Seminario on LIS for the Spanish-Speaking

Wilson Library Bulletin

ALKI

Colorado Libraries

Diversity and Multiculturalism in Libraries

Florida Libraries

Journal of Youth Services in Libraries

Young Adult Library Services

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

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Much of that growth has been from anthologies specifically aimed

at services for Latinos.

Guerena

Naidoo

Haro

Chabran

GarzadeCortés

Schon

Allen

Luevano

Milo

Adkins

CabelloArgandoña

RUSA

Wadham

Alire

CastilloSpeed

Figueredo

Freiband

Haras

Pisano

Salinas

Trejo

Wohlmuth

York

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12

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3 Since 1969, there have been 436*

publications about Latino services, by 296 first authors.

Twenty-three authors have

produced 3 or more works.

*Probably more!

The 436

publications

had 6,703 references.

The word cloud below indicates the most frequently cited authors in the articles’

bibliographies.

This word cloud indicates the words most frequently found in the titles of materials cited

in those bibliographies.

Patricia L. Guardiola

Serving an Exploding Population: Analyzing the Information Behavior of and Resources Available

to Latino Patrons, Using the Louisville Free Public Library System as a Model

Serving an Exploding Population:Analyzing the Information Behaviors of and Resources Available to Latino Patrons, Using the Louisville Free Public Library System as a Model

Patricia L. GuardiolaMLIS Student, University of Kentuckyp.guardiola@uky.edu

Initial Questions

• How can librarians assist and empower patrons if there is a language and/or cultural barrier?

• What are information needs and behaviors?

• What are resources?

• What is there to learn from one library system in Kentucky?

Discovering Info Behaviors and Resources

• Observations

• Informal interviews

• Literature reviews

• Participation in Immigrant Services Committee

• Outreach

• Span of nearly two years, from early 2011 to late 2012

Demographics in Kentucky

From http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-04.pdf

Demographics in Louisville, KY• Huge increase in Latino population• Between 2000 and 2010, 160% increase (Crouch 2012)

• Large immigrant populations• Bosnian, Latino, Senegalese, Vietnamese

Louisville Free Public Library

• 18 Locations• Main Library• 2 Regional Libraries• 15 Branches

• Internationals Initiative

Image courtesy of lfpl.org

LFPL - Okolona

• Bilingual Clerk (PT)• Bilingual Library Assistant (PT)• Staff turnover

Images courtesy of lfpl.org

Information Needs & Behaviors

• Patron groups or types

• New immigrants• Can be greatly affected by first impression of library

• Second generation

• Established

• Overlap

Information Needs & Behaviors

• Common requests for native language materials• Citizenship exam prep• Computer tutorials• English learning• GED exam prep

• Common patron behaviors• Bringing English-speaking child, friend, or relative• Asking bilingual staff exclusively once aware• Biblioteca vs. Librería

Resources at LFPL Include:• Bilingual staff• Usually part-time

• Conversation Club

• Catalog• Translatable interface

• Immigrant Services Committee

• Internet access• Employment applications

Outside Resources Include:

• Adelante Hispanic Achievers (adelanteky.org)

• Americana Community Center (americanacc.org)

• Hispanic Latino Business Council (greaterlouisville.com/hlbc)

• Hispanic Latino Coalition (hlcoflouisville.org)

• Kentucky Refugee Ministries (kyrm.org)

• Louisville Metro Office for Globalization (louisvilleky.gov/Globalization)

• REFORMA Southeast (reformasoutheast.org)

Larger-scale Applications

• Customer service and staff challenges• Online• Face-to-face• Privacy• Patience!

• Broader appeal of multicultural collections

• Potential for growth – classes, groups, etc.

Kaitlin J. Peterson

Including the Culturally Excluded and Socially Forgotten: Information Services for Spanish

Migrant Workers in the United States

Including the Culturally Excluded and Socially

Forgotten: Information Services for Spanish Migrant Workers

in the United StatesKaitlin Peterson

MLS ‘13

Anecdote: How I Became Interested in the Information

Needs of Migrant Workers The same way many of us become interested in a

subject: an encounter in childhood that stuck with me

My mom the ESL Teacher vs. the Indifferent Farm Supervisor

It was not until this research that I learned that through the Federal Family Educational Right and Privacy Act of 1974, my mother and her principal were both legally capable and required to “seek out children of migrant workers eligible to receive [educational] services

Theoretical Framework

The theory of information worlds-developed primarily by Gary Burnett and Paul Jaeger, it builds upon previous work done by Jürgen Habermas and Elfreda Chatman.

The theory states that information behavior is shaped simultaneously by immediate influences like family and friends, as well as by larger social influences, including media, technology, etc. The theory argues that few individuals live in a very small world, except the extremely isolated

Latino migrant workers are this extremely isolated part of the population

Population Overview

According to the Institute of Food and Development Policy: More than two million year-round and seasonal migrant workers, including 100,000 children, work in the US

Of those two million, about two thirds are immigrants, eighty percent of which are from Mexico.

Fifty-nine percent are married, fifty two percent are parents

Population Overview Cont’d

35% cannot speak English at all Average level of completed education is

grade eight; 40% have completed grades one through six

Three out of four U.S. farmworkers earn less than $10,000 annually, and three out of five live below the federal poverty line.

Twenty-five percent work fifty hours or more a week.

Information Needs

Education/literacyEmploymentHealthFamily PlanningHome/FamilyHousingLegal InformationPolitical Processes

RecreationTransportationWelfare/Social

ServicesGeographic

InformationConsumer

Information

Information Barriers

Language/Literacy Skills

Isolation from society/family

Fear/Misunderstanding of Legal System

Time (lack thereof)

Lack of Transportation

Cultural ObstaclesPerceptions of

Information Institutions

Lack of AccessLow Social Status

Latino Migrant Workers

Information Agencies

Government

Schools

FamilyCo-workers

Time

Literacy

Language

Isolation

Culture

Access

Social Status

Fear

Perceptions

Transportation

Law

Latino Migrant Worker’s Information World

Library and Information Agencies: Big Picture

IFLA in Multicultural Communities Guidelines for Library Services: “libraries need to pay particular attention to the culturally diverse groups in their communities, including indigenous peoples, immigrant communities…residents with temporary stay permits, and migrant workers.”

UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers, Art. 13 from 1990: “migrant workers and members of their families shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to see, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds”

Library and Information Agencies: Small Picture

The Farmworker Unit of the Legal Aid of NC: bilingual staff provide information to farmworkers through visits to labor camps in the evening, appear on Spanish language radio and tv programs

University of Washington and Department of Education partnered with Horizon’s Incorporated to create Community Technology Centers for education area’s migrant population

Fresno County Public Library (CA) Bookmobile Miami Dade Public Library has a Hispanic branch located

in the bottom part of an affordable housing complex where migrant workers live.

Recommendations

Bring resources to where Latino Migrant workers are: bookmobiles/mobile collections

Offer bilingual services/collectionsPartner with local trusted institutions that are

already working with Latino Migrant population

Develop relevant policies for Latino migrant workers, but be flexible

Always, always be an advocate

Jimena Sagàs

“Where I come from, libraries are different”: A comparative study of patron experience with

libraries in Mexico and the United States

S

Where I come from libraries are

different:A comparative study of patrons’ experience with

libraries in Mexico and the United States

Saturday, June 29, 2013 American Library Association Annual Conference

Jimena Sagàs, MLISColorado State

University

Acknowledgements

REFORMA Library Research Round Table You

Background

U.S. libraries’ historical role in serving immigrants

REFORMA

Acculturate or Assimilate?

It’s a two way street, baby!

A federal library system

Secretaría de Educación Pública

Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes

(CONCULTA)

La Dirección General de Bibliotecas

La Red Nacional de Bibliotecas Públicas

A culture of reading

LIS Education

Colegio de Bibliotecología (Facultad de Filosofía y Letras) http://colegiodebibliotecologia.filos.unam.mx

Courses http://colegiodebibliotecologia.filos.unam.mx

Questions, questions, questions…

Users Budgeting Programming Public vs. Academic Policies

Collection development Technology Professional

organizations Space

Mixed Method

Open access information Interviews

Patrons both in Mexico and the United States

Library professionals Government officials

Conclusion

Mexico is just a start… A process to serve people from a diversity of

backgrounds