Scarecrow Press Library Services for Multicultural Patrons: Strategies to Encourage Library Use

Increasingly, libraries are struggling to deal with a growing diversity in the cultural background of their patrons. Problems arising from this cultural diversity afflict all library types-school, public and academic. Library Services for Multicultural Patrons is by and for all libraries that are striving to provide multicultural services to match the growing diversity in the cultural background of patrons. The book is designed to offer helpful tips and practical advice to academic, public, and school librarians who want to better serve the multicultural groups in their communities. The contributors to the book are themselves practicing librarians and they share creative ideas for welcoming multicultural patrons into libraries and strategies for serving them more effectively. Librarians will find in these chapters tried and true tips and techniques for marketing and promotion, improving reference services for speakers of English as a second language, and enhancing programming that they can easily implement in their own libraries and communities. The chapters are divided into the following categories for ease of access: 1) Getting Organized and Finding Partners, 2) Reaching Students, 3) Community Connections, 4) Applying Technology, 6) Outreach Initiatives, 6) Programming and Events, and 7) Reference Services. Librarians of all types will be pleased to discover easy-to-implement suggestions for collaborative efforts, many rich and diverse programming ideas, strategies for improving reference services and library instruction to speakers of English as a second language, marketing and promotional tips designed to welcome multicultural patrons into the library, and much more. Review An excellent compilation of essays that will help any librarian reach his or her multicultural patrons. ... Readers of this book will be able to step outside of their cultural identities and adapt these success stories to their current needs. Any librarian trying to reach a certain cultural demographic should read this timely publication.--Booklist Public libraries are well covered in the book. . . .The chapters are well arranged by theme, with special focus on effective community engagement and collaboration. I personally find the chapter on genealogy reference services interesting, as this subject is not often covered in any library course to prepare librarians for our aging and migrant communities who often show interest in this subject. . . .This book is a timely resource when library users come from a growing diversity of backgrounds in countries like Australia and New Zealand.--Australian Library Journal The book will be valuable in any library where there is a growing diversity of patrons being served.--American Reference Books Annual What do graphic novels, poetry readings, and oral history projects have in common? They are among many ideas used in successful outreach efforts by libraries serving ethnically diverse patrons. In this resource edited by Smallwood (Preserving Local Writers, Genealogy, Photographs, Newspapers, and Related Materials) and Becnel (library science, Appalachian State Univ.), 49 predominantly American contributors share their diversity service expertise via 37 articles arranged by theme: getting organized and finding partners, reaching students, community connections, applying technology, outreach initiatives, programming and events, and reference services. An underlying message is for librarians to leave their comfort zones, collaborate, and take risks to establish practical connections with new immigrants and other diverse populations. This comprehensive handbook--targeting academic, public, and school librarians--is the first of its kind since Katherine Hill's Diversity and Multiculturalism in Libraries (1994) and Reaching a Multicultural Student Community by Karen E. Downing, Barbara MacAdam, and Darlene P. Nichols (1993). Staffing, funding, resource planning, and overcoming lan