The immigrant populations in Seattle are extremely diverse in experiences and needs, but all share a deep desire to give their children opportunities for education and success. It is that desire that leads many immigrant families to the library for the first time. What better way to serve immigrant needs AND make deep connections in communities than to create opportunities for non-English speaking children while reaching out to their parents.
Like many libraries, our Summer Reading Program is the system’s largest and most well-attended program. However, children who speak a language other than English at home are proportionally under-represented among participants. To address this I'm working closely with our youth program manager to pilot a Chinese language story time. If the program is successful, we will expand it to Spanish and Vietnamese speakers next year.
To build a pool of qualified Chinese-speaking story tellers, and build support from library personnel, we teamed up with the Children’s Department and enlisted the help of our Chinese-speaking children’s librarian to create a training program and develop a series of story times in a box kits that new story tellers may use for their programs. This approach ensures that story tellers learn the basic principles of early literacy and story time techniques, and are exposed to our library staff and collections. To further ensure success, we recruited native Chinese speakers who have experience working with youth and in libraries.
This summer, our trained storytellers will offer a total of 16 Chinese Story Times in four branches that house Chinese collections and serve Chinese-speakers locally. Children’s librarians at each branch will be on hand to answer questions, sign families up for library cards, highlight items from the collection, promote the rest of the Summer Reading Program, and develop relationships with parents and youth. We will also use this as an opportunity to solicit feedback and ideas for future programming, and to make Chinese-language community information available. To promote the story times we will create fliers in Chinese and advertise through Chinese newspapers and radio stations. In addition, we are actively building partnerships with key community-based organizations that will bring groups of parents and children to the programs.
Our library measures the success of all of our programs on the following factors: attracting new users to the library; educating program participants about other relevant library services; whether participants enjoy the program; potential for community-building; and cost-effectiveness. Initial evaluation of this pilot will come in the form of librarian surveys, story teller surveys, participation data, and translated parent surveys. So far, the community response has been overwhelmingly positive. Staff members were initially cautious, thoughtfully probing for information about the program’s sustainability, and confirmation that quality would be upheld and community connections captured. But as we better communicated our planning efforts staff members have become very supportive of this effort to expand the Library’s reach into the community.
The Seattle Public Library includes a spectacular Central Library, 26 branches, and mobile services. The system is governed by a five-member citizen’s board of trustees and is funded by the City of Seattle, which has a diverse population of 573,000. In 2002, City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs appointed a staff committee to explore how to further enhance our services to these communities. This initial group expanded into a task force that broadened our services and provided organizational involvement. Based on these early efforts, The Seattle Public Library Foundation secured funding to support current and ongoing library services to immigrant and refugees, including the creation of my current position.
A key component of our service planning was to begin with a single community and then expand to other immigrant and refugee communities. We began our efforts with the Spanish speaking community and are now broadening our work to include other language groups based on population density. In 2003, the task force did a comprehensive study of the Spanish-speaking community in Seattle. They asked questions like: Who makes up this community? What agencies serve and/or represent its members? What churches, schools, and businesses do Spanish-speakers use? What needs exist? How have Spanish-speakers been served by The Seattle Public Library been in the past? How could this service improve?
Research lasted a year and included a review of relevant resources followed by interviews and focus groups with library staff, community agencies, and library patrons. Resulting recommendations led to our current programs and services, which include traditional library programs offered in Spanish, as well as new programs, such as Spanish language workshops on credit, acquiring loans, or citizenship. We regularly survey the patrons to make adjustments to our efforts.
We are now broadening our work to include other language groups based on population density, and are following a similar approach. By working methodically and forming deep connections within each community, we have been able to assess, make changes, and evaluate this work while continuing to bring new users to our library.
Valerie Wonder is the Immigrant and Refugee Programs Manager for The Seattle Public Library where she develops cultural and life skills programs for immigrant communities.
