Multicultural Sources for Libraries

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