Libraries Increase Services for Latinos as Demand Rises

Gabriela Melendez, 24, recently applied for a library card after not setting foot in a public library since junior high school. She wants to check out books in English and Spanish to read to her 2-year-old son.

On the same day, Lupe Reynoso, 24, ventured into her local library for the first time, to peruse instructional books and tapes. She wants to learn English to get a better job.

Jose de Jesus, 32, discovered the library when he needed a quiet place to study between classes at East Los Angeles Occupational Center. A librarian helped him find technical books in English and Spanish.

When he tired of poring over electrical circuitry, De Jesus began to pick up books that piqued his interest in areas totally new to him--novels by Carlos Fuentes and Juan Rulfo and books on the Mexican revolution and Latino history. “I have learned about things here that matter, my ancestry and other things I never knew about,” he said.

Just as Melendez, Reynoso, De Jesus and other Latinos have discovered their local public library, public library systems throughout Southern California increasingly have discovered them.

Said Julia Orozco, regional administrator for the Los Angeles County Library, “Every community library is responsible to respond to the immediate community and to reflect the (ethnic) composition of the area.” Orozco and other public librarians in Southern California said expanding Page and upgrading services for Latinos, both in Spanish and English, have become a priority.

The heightened responsiveness of libraries comes at a time when Latinos, Southern California’s fastest-growing ethnic group, are striving for increased literacy and better educational and employment opportunities.

The neighborhood library “discovered” by Melendez, Reynoso and De Jesus is considered by experts to be a model for use by Latinos. It is the East Los Angeles Library, part of the Los Angeles County Library system. Manager Albert Tovar said his library must provide a combination of English- and Spanish-language services.

At the East Los Angeles library, Tovar said with pride, “the days of service to the Spanish-speaking being a separate entity are over.”

Tovar’s library has a broad selection of books in Spanish, and is “starting to build a strong video collection,” he said. The library is connected to a countywide data base accessible in either English or Spanish. The Chicano Resource Center, which features mostly English-language books, periodicals and a multimedia center showcasing Mexican-American history and culture, is also on the site.

But Tovar and other librarians are not satisfied with the number of patrons they are serving. Outreach is a major task. It is not unusual for libraries to sponsor such public service programs as bilingual children’s story hours, parenting classes, health lectures and senior citizen events.

Some offer free dial-a-story, -song or -poem services in Spanish and English. Literature explaining library services is published in both languages. And librarians are continually inviting children--who are introduced to the libraries through class trips and story hours--to bring in their Spanish-speaking parents and grandparents.

Word of mouth is not enough, however. “Today’s libraries have marketing experts and analysts,” Tovar said. Recently, Tovar got together with an expert and formulated a plan to promote new Sunday library hours.

Los Angeles County is not alone in seeking new ways to attract patrons. The Orange County Public Library distributes a black-and-white fotonovela about a family’s trip to the library. (More than a comic book, less than a novel, the fotonovela is a popular format in Mexico.) The Pasadena Library holds a musical Celebracion Latina in the library, and bilingual story hours for children while their pregnant mothers receive prenatal medical care.

With all the community services, Tovar and other librarians believe that the Latino community “should be knocking down our doors, and they’re not. You wonder why,” he said, shaking his head.

Part of the answer is contained in a 1988 RAND Corp. report on library usage. According to the report compiled by social scientist Judith Payne, only 7% of all Californians seeking information--and an even lower 3% of Latinos--turn to libraries for help.

Lower usage by Latinos, Payne said, could be ascribed to a lack of tradition of library borrowing in some Latin American countries, notably Mexico, which has many bookstores but a very limited public library system. (The considerably smaller Chilean community, by contrast, has a strong tradition of library usage.)

In addition, Payne said, many Latinos may find libraries difficult to use or not hospitable, she said. But libraries are making efforts to change, she said.

When Rob Richard was hired as director of the Santa Ana Public Library in 1986, “Spanish-language services were an afterthought, stuck in a room off to the side.” Lately, he said, the library has “made a real effort to recruit bilingual and bicultural staff.” All Santa Ana employees receive a pay incentive for fluency in Spanish.

Once the library is remodeled next year, he said, the ever-growing Spanish collection will be in a prominent area.

In Los Angeles’ city library system, the Los Angeles Public Library, a coordinator of multilingual services helps branch library directors acquire and distribute books and other resources in Spanish and other foreign languages.

Frank Navarro, the coordinator, said the Los Angeles Central Library has the largest Spanish-language collection in the city system--about 50,000 books and growing, with an emphasis on Latin American literature and history. Almost all of the system’s 63 branch libraries and its bookmobiles also have Spanish-language collections.

A significant indication of growth, he added, was that the Benjamin Franklin branch library in Boyle Heights--which has the largest Spanish-language collection of any branch of the city library--circulated 117,000 books last fiscal year, up 24,000 over the previous year.

So far, Navarro said, his libraries do not have videotapes, except for a series entitled “Opportunity USA,” which explains the federal government’s amnesty program.

Among the most-requested items from Spanish-speaking patrons are English-language instruction, citizenship preparation and “how-to” books on getting along in the United States. The Los Angeles public libraries and all public libraries in Southern California carry these.

Many Latinos, of course, speak English as a first language. Besides using materials in English, librarians report that Latinos frequently use Spanish-language resources to preserve and sharpen their knowledge of Spanish. Tovar, for example, said he reads a book in Spanish “every once in a while” just to hone his language ability.

Like many librarians serving bicultural communities, Tovar believes his library has something valuable to offer both the Spanish- and English-speaking patron. “Let people come in and discover what we have,” he said. “In terms of service, I know we will always do the best we can.”

Resources / Recursos

Public libraries throughout Southern California provide a myriad of community resources. Those mentioned in the accompanying article are only a few. To find out what a library near you has to offer, contact one of the following:

* Los Angeles Public Library Community Access Library Line: (800) 372-6641. Bilingual staff at this number provides information or referral to your nearest library and to literacy programs, language-learning centers, consumer health, senior citizens’ and children’s services, including English and Spanish dial-a-story numbers.

* East Los Angeles Library (including Chicano Resource Center): (213) 263-5087. Located at 4801 E. 3rd St.

* Los Angeles city libraries: (213) 612-3200. Central Library is at 433 S. Spring St.

* Metropolitan Cooperative Library System: (213) 680-9145.

* Santa Ana Public Library: (714) 647-5250. Located at 26 Civic Center Plaza.

* Orange County Public Library: (714) 834-6841.