How Do You Manage? Case Study: It's a Small World

"Okeyday," said the child, returning Kelly's smile.

"I never felt like such an idiot in my life," Kelly said to fellow librarian Roberta Klein. "I feel so terrible that I can't help these people because I don't understand them."

"They should teach languages in library school," Klein said.

"The old neighborhood is changing fast," Kelly said. "It used to be you just had to speak some Spanish, but now there's Japanese, Chinese, Somali, Middle Eastern languages. Forget about it; it's like the UN in here."

Kelly's metaphor is accurate. In the previous decade, the neighborhood around the library, which seemingly forever had been a predominantly Irish, Italian, and Jewish blend, had experienced a great influx of immigrants from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The staff principally comprises members of the aforementioned ethnicities, plus a single Hispanic woman, Theresa Rivera, and the lone African American staffer, Assistant Director Elizabeth Washington.

"This is something we really have to start thinking about," said Connie Mascola. If the patrons don't speak English and we don't speak their languages, it's going to be awfully tough to serve them."

"This is a concern we should speak to Bill about at the next staff meeting," Kelly said.

Better than his word, Kelly had approached Director William Sullivan prior to said meeting to request the situation be added to the agenda.

When all were assembled, Sullivan broached Kelly's request after running down the usual business. "I've been told by Frank that several of the staff have concerns over our ability to serve the growing ranks of immigrant patrons. Anyone who has thoughts on this, please verbalize them," Sullivan said.

"Since I brought it up," Kelly said, "I'll start. To repeat what I said to Bill and what some of us have talked about already, we're concerned that we may not be prepared to meet the flood of new immigrants into this area in recent years. I had an experience just a week ago. I was completely helpless to assist someone who spoke no English with getting ultimately what was an application for a library card. It was very embarrassing for me and the patron."

"It's not just immigrants. There is a large number of African Americans and Hispanics populating this area, and I'm the only black woman, Terry is the only Hispanic, and there are no Asian Americans on the staff at all," Washington said.

"And whenever African Americans or Hispanics come in looking for something," Rivera said, "they almost always immediately come over and ask me."

"But isn't that their hang-up?" asked Klein. "It's not like the rest of us wouldn't help them because they aren't white."

"Of course not. I'm not saying that at all," answered Washington. "It's just human nature. We also have to make changes in the collection to reflect the needs of the users. Simply having best sellers in English isn't going to cut it for much longer."

"Okay, so what do we do then? Fire half the staff and replace them with blacks, Hispanics, and Asians while replacing half the collection with foreign-language materials?"

"I'm not saying that either," Washington affirmed.

"Then what do we do to address this problem?"

Public libraries have traditionally and appropriately provided a welcoming setting to members of their community. And, as is being experienced at the Lincoln Public Library, the cultural and racial makeup of a town or city can change dramatically over time. The challenge for a library like Lincoln is to be aware of that ebb and flow and to connect with it in some way. Kelly is embarrassed by some of his recent encounters with non-English-speaking patrons. One also hopes that he is genuinely concerned with improving customer service for the immigrants using the library.

It is time to turn the meeting into a planning session, indeed, to put a more positive spin on the situation. If Lincoln Public Library is like most libraries in the country, adding staff, even staff who mirror the community, is not feasible, nor may it be necessary. There are certainly steps that can be taken both to alleviate staff concerns and serve the patrons of the library better.

A solid study of the population may help increase the staff's understanding of how the area has changed and who their constituents are. Local census data can be a start. "Real Life" information can be obtained as the library contacts local agencies and organizations that interact with the community. An invitation to individuals from these groups to attend a staff meeting would be beneficial. This would be an opportunity to address concerns and questions such as those brought up by Kelly, Mascola, and others.

Although the Lincoln Public Library will not want to replace "half the collection with foreign-language materials," it is time to consider the addition of popular materials for non-English speakers. This task can even incorporate advisors from the target audience into the process. Grant funding is a way to develop a core collection. Money obtained can be used for diversity training for the staff and even the addition of part-time or temporary personnel who are bilingual.

It would be useful to have translated into other languages key library forms and information, such as applications for library cards, a library informational brochure, and resource lists. If there is literacy and citizenship training in the area, tutors can be encouraged to use library space for their sessions. The library then becomes more "familiar" to those who are not of the majority and encourages use of the facility.

Lincoln PL is in the early stages of tackling the "small world" issue. This does not mean that those working there cannot move beyond initial feelings of confusion or powerlessness to a more informed place. Director Sullivan needs to acknowledge but then quell any anxiety or rancor that his staff is feeling. Providing tools for his staff to work more effectively with the new faces coming into the library will go a long way toward staff and patron satisfaction.

Several years ago, Mel King campaigned for mayor of Boston with a slogan that went something like, "We may have come over on different boats, but we're all in the same boat now." Faced with a situation that seems like an overwhelming problem, the staff have voiced their frustration as feelings of helplessness, resistance, and isolation. Libraries have become "like the UN" and without the UN's resources for interpreters and diplomats. There are two simple questions facing the director and staff of Lincoln Public Library: Do we need to assume responsibility in this area? And, if so, how?

The real issue at hand is how to manage change. Libraries are very fond of lofty mission statement phrases such as "we are the repositories for the accumulated wisdom of the world," i.e., the English-speaking world. Klein would argue that this is the way it is supposed to be. But is it the language of Lincoln Public Library's community? As Kelly, Mascola, and any front desk staff will tell you, there are many native speakers who do not know the meaning of library lingo such as renewals, reference, circulation, fiction, and nonfiction. Are we placing a higher standard of responsibility on immigrant customers? Is this the library version of racism?

Fortunately, guidelines and assistance are available. In response to their changing population, Berkeley Public Library, CA, formed a liaison Multicultural Committee with volunteers from its community. UNESCO has published a Public Library Manifesto suggesting guidelines for libraries to promote and support cultural diversity.

The three-page Ethnic Services document of the State Library of Queensland, Australia, is to be envied. Its objective specifically addresses the language problem: "To meet the library needs of people not fluent in English or from a non-English speaking background within the local community." But then, Australia has an Office of Multicultural Affairs. So how does a lone library staff enter the global community?

It is tempting to suggest that Sullivan has been asleep for the last decade as the incident Kelly describes is a common enough occurrence in public libraries today. Certainly one question they should be discussing is whether to use children, family members or not, as interpreters. With the exceptions of Klein and Sullivan, the staff agrees that change is necessary—and quickly. As Washington points out, just stocking English-language best sellers "isn't going to cut it for much longer."

Community-based planning is needed to determine how to augment library programs, services, materials, and information. Now would be a good time for the director to implement a survey to assess those needs. Sullivan should form an advisory committee drawn from the local community to help conduct the survey in the necessary languages.

In the meantime, Sullivan could be applying for a federal MultiMAC grant from the Library Services and Technology Act to provide assistance in developing, among other things, world language collections. The grant might provide for hiring more bilingual staff. The grant might fund a designer to set up the library's web page in different languages. Sullivan might try the American Library Association's Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table for ideas to promote awareness of cultural heritages.

For immediate action, the staff could begin recruiting bilingual volunteers to conduct library orientation tours and translate the library's written communications. Local schools and ethnic media are possible places for recruitment. Such efforts should put the staff in a more hopeful frame of mind and revitalize the library's place in the community. It is a small world and getting smaller.