Multicultural Sources For Libraries
For the modern library, it is absolutely essential to recognize the multicultural needs that come with providing services to the community. English might be a second or third language for a patron; families might be hoping to discover sources at their library that represent their cultural heritage. Collections and programming need to be inclusive for users. For a library to be a relevant, valuable resource, it must strive to be accessible to the greatest portion of the community, and to reflect the varied faces of those patrons.
To that end, libraries have a fantastic resource in the form of the World Wide Web. The Web allows for many different kinds of libraries to share sources, programming ideas, tips on building a multicultural-friendly collection, and tell stories about what has worked and what has not.
The American Library Association has a great starter page for multicultural resources, linked here. There are layers and layers of information to dig through on the site, from links to multicultural conferences to extensive bibliographies. However, be forewarned that some of the links are dead, or lead to lists of other links that are dead, or worse: one of the links for Southeast Asia was a porn site. So like anything with the Net, use caution when link hopping.
The Librarians Internet Index has an extensive page on multicultural resources. The link is here. From this page, a librarian can come across useful web bibliographies, like the one at Poynter Online, which has links to many active sites in the Multicultural Education and Research fields.
For children’s and young adult librarians, there is a great one-stop shop for multicultural resources available at the Dream In Color program. This is part of the Scholastic website, and it has fantastic teaching aids and lesson plans for learning about other cultures, all of which could be adapted for library programming.
Dr. Donna Gilton, professor at the Graduate School for Library and Information Studies at the University of Rhode Island, has compiled a wonderfully comprehensive bibliography for the library in need of multicultural information; her Multiculturalism in Libraries Bibliography does not just list links and books, but discusses the philosophy behind building library diversity, and organizes loads of information in a logical, accessible way.
Part of the multicultural and diversity issue for libraries involves serving patrons with special needs. There are many resources available; some worth looking at are the free online books Youth with Special Needs and Adults with Special Needs. These were developed for the Wisconsin Public Library System but are applicable to any library district.
All of these provided sources are really just the tip of the iceberg. The idea is to give any librarian beginning to build multicultural programming a few road maps for successfully reaching out to the variety of users they will encounter.
Need more?
Gorski, Paul. Multicultural Supersite. http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/education/multi_new/
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). Library Services to Multicultural Populations Section. http://www.ifla.org/VII/s32/index.htm
Multicultural Pavilion: Resources and Dialogues for Equity in Education. http://www.edchange.org/multicultural
MultiCultural Review. http://www.mcreview.com/
National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME). http://www.nameorg.org/
Queens Borough Public Library. Web-Based - Multicultural Resources. http://www.queenslibrary.org/programs/nap/MulticulturalResources.asp
Southern Poverty Law Center. Teaching Tolerance. http://www.tolerance.org/teach/
U. of Maryland. Diversity Database. http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/Diversity/
University of Northern Iowa Diversity webpage. http://www.library.uni.edu/subject/interdis.html
9 comments:
The Dream in Color link was great. We do a "Read Around the World" program with students from 3-6 grade and these resources and tools will enhance our program for next year.
Thanks for the great links in your blog.
Thanks for all of the great resources that help to address multiculturalism. I particularily liked the online books offered by the Wisconsin Public Libraries. I thought it was interesting that the first topic in the Youth With Special Needs is "Strategies to Overcome Barriers"..made me think about our discussion question and it offers great advice just like the Ocean County Library System Diversity plan. I have to say I was pretty ignorant to the fact that there are so many great resources already available for a topic I have rarely seen directly addressed at my library.
I enjoyed looking at these links - thanks for the post.
Thanks for raodmap to reach out users on multiculturalism.
Thanks for the multicultural great sites!
As well as being aware of them, librarians need to use them. I think it is important to have training sessions in which librarians are introduced to new sites as well as given the time to explore and plan appropriate ways to fit them into the library structure.
Good sources Michael! I agree that a library must meet the multicultural needs of its patrons. As you explain in the blog, “For a library to be a relevant, valuable resource, it must strive to be accessible to the greatest portion of the community...” (Michael Graulich, July 30, 2009). That being said, I can see how various limitations (financial or time) can arise to impede a library’s ability to provide quality services or programs for all the cultural groups within their community, especially for smaller groups. Being able to utilize multicultural Web sources to assist all of the library’s varying patrons, or patron groups, is an invaluable time and money saving resource. These sources also provide high quality information for both library staff and patrons.
Thank you for including people with disabilities as part of the "multicutural" realm. Libraries definitely need to respond their needs for accesibility.
Wow that Dream in Color site was really cool. I especially liked the section about digital storytelling. I did a project for a course at another university that involved helping record oral histories and story circles, and one of the women we interviewed was Latina. The focus was on food, and her cooking stories were...well, delicious. Although it was a history course, something like that could easily translate to a library, because it involves creating and recording "information", which will help us learn more about each other and preserve something for the future as well.
Thanks for the links. I, much like the commenters so far, really appreciate the resources you've gleaned together.
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