I kicked off my first PLA Conference with the session, Beyond Bilingual Storytime and ESL: Digging Deeper into Your Spanish Speaking Community. Librarians from Colorado and California shared experiences from both the public and academic library perspectives. The speakers offered ways to make outreach to underserved populations less focused on the library as central, and instead bringing in specific populations to inform decisions. This alternative solution advises librarians to build relationships, gain trust, and discover needs before making programming decisions.
Haven’t we all been there? As librarians we think of a fantastic program idea, spend time planning and marketing the event, with surprisingly small results. This concept asks librarians to begin to look outward.
Simone Groene-Nieto, a librarian at Denver Public Library, reminded the audience to beware of making assumptions, and urged that, “Latinos are not a monolithic group.” Simone and her co-presenters, Zoe Jarocki, and Adriana Huertas, described working with underserved members of the Latino community, including LGBTQ youth, teen mothers, entrepreneurs, and refugees. Huertas discussed her success with the SPECTRUM group at San Diego Public library, and advised developing characteristics of accessibility and availability in building connections with youth.
The presenters allowed attendees time to evaluate and discuss identifying some of the underserved groups within their own Spanish speaking community, as well as gaps in library service. The trio also provided a plan to serve as a better model for outreach moving forward. The steps highlighted were:
- Identify Underserved Groups
- Build Relationships
- Determine Needs
- Build a Program with the Community
- Market Programs in Ways that Work
- Evaluate
Some other noteworthy suggestions included working with other community groups to start a dialogue, or to better meet practical needs. Ms. Huertas has been attending meetings at local churches where community leaders have been conducting similar conversations. Another idea was looking to local schools where families are already traveling daily. Schools might serve as a better location to meet transportation needs. In terms of evaluating efforts, observations can also be measurable outcomes. At San Diego Public Library, being involved with teen moms and seeing an increase in their conversations about the library through social media was evidence that an impact was being made.