Athens Regional Library System Success Story

by Norman Oder, Library Journal -- Críticas, 4/1/2008

While in some corners resistance to immigrants—and thus to services to them—has emerged, Athens, GA and surrounding Clarke County is part of a significant trend toward support. At the Public Library Association (PLA) conference in Minneapolis, Kathryn Ames, director of the Athens Regional Library System, described how population shifts, with just 1220 Latinos in the 1990 census and 23,000 a decade later in a service population barely topping 100,000, led to new programs.

Library staffers suddenly noticed soccer games outside the main library, and family members of the soccer players gravitated inside. But most staffers didn’t speak Spanish, and bilingual children wound up translating for their parents. The library began to build Spanish-language collections, operate story hours in Spanish, and launch special programs. A “guardian angel,” a local nun who ran an outreach program at a trailer park, invited the library to offer story hours there. Then, staff began thinking about a branch.

The Pinewoods Library and Learning Center, a doublewide mobile home once used as a classroom building, was the result of a three-year National Leadership Grant for Library-Museum Collaboration provided by the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services. The library, in partnership with the Lyndon House Arts Center, launched “Bridging the Gap Family to Family: Athenian-Mexican Cultural Exchange and Learning.” Project goals included improving the educational level of the immigrants, increasing use of library and arts center facilities by the Mexican-American community; and providing opportunities for educational and cultural exchange. The project won the PLA’s 2007 Highsmith Library Innovation Award.

Miguel Vicente, an immigrant from Cuba who has an education degree (and is currently studying for his MLS), became the library manager. Ames noted that traditional forms of advertising—even advertising in Spanish-language newspapers—wouldn’t necessarily reach this new population. “We were so fortunate to find Miguel,” she said. Indeed, Vicente, his wife, and an assistant went door to door to 225 trailers to introduce residents to the new library.

There were many challenges. Many immigrants unfamiliar with public libraries don’t trust government agencies. Many have low language skills and are barely literate in Spanish or other home language. Some may have multiple names—one they work under, one given to schools as emergency contact, and their real name.

Vicente, two decades ago a Guantanamo Bay detainee for some 18 months, remembered how an American soldier had advised him to go to church for his spiritual development and the library for his educational development. The people served by Pinewoods, he said, “go to the library for everything,” even for information before they go to the doctor. Indeed, Ames said, “I’m firmly convinced we’ve saved at least one life,” citing an episode in which a health educator helped show a woman how to use a diabetes test kit and a nutritionist talked to the patron about her diet.

Particularly useful for both children and parents is a distance learning program from Mexico called Plaza Comunitaria (“Community Square”), which allows adults to finish elementary and middle school and children to gain the vocabulary to tackle problems in math and science. Plaza Comunitaria has since been adopted by the Georgia State Board of Education.

An array of programs and classes has engaged the community, from sessions on health and drug abuse to heritage programs with mariachi and marimba bands, to programs that introduce the broader world, such as those celebrating Black History Month or Korean night.

Librarians from Clarke County took advantage of the American Library Association’s (ALA) FreePass at the Spanish-language book fair in Guadalajara, Mexico, which Ames called a “fabulous experience.” Staffers have learned beginners’ Spanish along with other members of the community. Still, Ames acknowledged that “local sustainability is difficult,” and she expects to lose Vicente when the grant for his salary runs out.