With a variety of reading materials and programs, librarians across the northwest suburbs are meeting the needs of patrons from a growing number of cultural backgrounds.
From McHenry to Des Plaines, materials are available not only in English, but in languages as diverse as Polish, Hindi, Korean, Spanish and French. According to the Wheeling-based North Suburban Library System (NSLS), which includes public libraries in the northwest suburbs, suburbanites used materials in 29 different languages last year.
Many of these patrons read and speak English well, yet look for reading materials, videos and music in their native languages. Others are just learning to speak English.
And while materials in Spanish are the most popular choice after English, librarians also report requests for Polish, German, Italian and French among European languages. Asian languages are also popular.
In Elgin, for instance, officials at the Gail Borden Public Library are working to expand their collection of materials for Laotian patrons, a growing segment of the Elgin population.
At the Schaumburg Township Public Library, director Michael Madden hesitates to call his collection of Asian materials extensive. Yet Madden says that the library’s two shelves of Chinese books, two shelves of Japanese books and half shelf of Korean books offer more than many other other libraries. The library also has many Hindi books, donated by the local Indian community, according to Madden.
But while plenty of books are available, Madden believes many patrons are interested in periodicals so they can keep up with current events in their homelands. “We see more of a demand for foreign newspapers,” he said.
Most popular, perhaps, is the Times of India, an English-language daily paper devoted entirely to news and issues of India. The Schaumburg Township Public Library has 58 ethnic newspaper and magazine titles, in English and foreigh languages, including Polish, Korean and German.
J.S. Park of Schaumburg left his native Seoul, Korea, just a few months ago. “I like to keep up on business in Korea,” he said. “And I am just learning what the library has available.” He said that as he becomes more familiar with the library, he will probably ask for more materials in Korean.
Zoilo Santiago, a 1st-grade teacher at Huff School in Elgin, appreciates his library’s attempt to stock books and periodicals in foreign languages. Eighteen years ago, he came to Elgin from Puerto Rico, speaking little English. Today, he speaks English as rapidly and fluently as he speaks Spanish.
Yet when he visits the Gail Borden Library in Elgin, his first stop is at the Spanish language materials in the adult services department. For him, like many others, the library is his link with his homeland.
“I read the newspapers in Spanish to keep up on what is happening in Puerto Rico,” he said, “and I check out the cassettes because there is a lot of new music.”
Libraries in the northwest suburbs are finding it a challenge to identify specific needs, to obtain materials once those needs are defined, then to catalog those materials and, finally, to provide staff who are knowledgeable in the various languages.
And there’s another hurdle: Sometimes those who do not speak English well or at all are intimidated by the formal, institutional nature of a public library and shy away from using it, according to Arlene Kaspik, director of the McHenry Public Library District.
She said that outreach programs, in which libraries take their services to the people via bookmobiles and visits to community centers, seem to work better with some ethnic groups. “Libraries are like businesses,” Kaspik said. “You have to realize who you are serving.”
Dan Armstrong, director of the Palatine Public Library, agrees that outreach is more successful. “We are putting together a grant proposal to get a bookmobile to serve our Hispanic population,” he said. The library has no bookmobile now. “We have had discussions with four other libraries that are interested.”
And while his library has offered bilingual story times for children, he noted that the sessions attracted those whose native language is English, rather than the Spanish-speaking families they had been organized for. “These are families who want to expose their children to Spanish,” he said of the English-speaking families who showed up.
Recently the NSLS received a $27,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand the collection of Spanish-language materials in seven of its member libraries, according to Miriam Pollack, coordinator of member services.
Choosing foreign language materials for a library is only one challenge for librarians. Cataloging the material is another matter.
While Spanish uses many of the same letters as the English alphabet, there are some differences in alphabetizing. Cataloging becomes even more complicated with Chinese and Japanese. “It is a real challenge,” Pollack said, “to find people skilled in cataloging those items.”
Judith Ream, coordinator of information services for the NSLS, adds that it’s also difficult to find people who can work easily with those materials and help patrons once the material is on the shelf.
Joan Huff, reference librarian at the Des Plaines Public Library, said that when she buys books in Polish from the Polonia Bookstore in Chicago, employees there provide a translation of the title and brief description in English.
Patrons at all northwest suburban libraries have access to foreign-language materials, even if their own library does not carry materials in the language they want. They can sign up through their library to take part in a program in which they receive books in their desired language every month. Patrons can request particular types of books, such as novels or biographies. About 250 people in the suburbs used that free service last year.
And librarians said that while they note that it appears that some people seem to abandon their language completely in favor of English, others do not. “They are learning English,” said Huff, “but they are also retaining their original language.”
And Pollack said a case can be made for people continuing to read in their native tongues. “Imagine, for instance, a native speaker of Spanish wanting to read `One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez,” she said. “Of course that person would want to read it in Spanish, the language in which it was written.”
Librarians say individual libraries cannot meet every need for every language, but they are attempting to meet a broader range of needs through the NSLS. Currently all materials are being gathered on a master data base, which they say will provide easier access for everyone.
