Recognize the social, cultural and economic dimensions of information use.
One of the great functions of the library, especially the public library, is as an institution that helps level the playing field, allowing a diverse user body equal access to information resources regardless of their cultural, social or economic condition. Traditionally this has meant access to books, that otherwise would be too expensive or unavailable except to those of the greatest means. In today’s library this ideal of access is extended to public access computers, information in people’s native languages, and programs that are culturally relevant and support the information needs of vulnerable or often excluded populations. Clearly libraries have a large role to play in supporting the cultural, social, and economic interests and needs of the communities they serve.
Access is not the only realm in which libraries must assume a role. Libraries must take their place in ensuring that their service communities are taught the basic tenets of information literacy. The necessity for a robust understanding about how to interpret and gather information will inevitably increase with the pace of technological change. One of the future missions of the library will be to assist users in attaining a level of information literacy that will allow them to better interpret and participate in the digital world. Not all communities have equal access to the tools necessary to reach this goal due to the cost associated with the tools of the digital age. Even those who have full access to the spectrum of gadgets available may not have an interpretive grasp on the varying but not equally accurate sources of information available.
In many ways the social, cultural and economic dimensions of the library and its service within the community are linked entities, indivisible in many cases. In my time at San Jose State and in my work at Libraries these dimensions have been usually been viewed through the lens of providing quality service to Spanish speaking communities. This work has taken numerous forms which often bridge the gaps between economic, cultural and social dimensions.
Evidence
Recently I have assisted in teaching computer classes designed for Spanish Speakers, which had the intention of lowering the digital divide within that community. These classes focused on the basic computer skills necessary to navigate email, the internet and word processing programs. The classes were couched in culturally relevant language and activities, for example, showing users how to effectively search in Spanish, utilize the special characters native to the language in Microsoft Word, and how to utilize popular social media sites in their native language.
In LIBR 275, Library Services to Diverse Communities, I furthered this practice by creating an Electronic Information Kiosk explicitly geared toward the Spanish speaking community, taking into account the very present differences between communities of origin within this group, e.g. whether someone’s community of origin is in Michoacan or Oaxaca, etc. This project also had the express purpose of helping aid users in the creation of functional transnational communities through the internet. By linking users to forums, clubs and apoyo (support) groups tied to their communities of origin, web guide supports the social dimension of migration within the United States. The project’s goal is to provide both culturally relevant information and access to the Spanish Speaking community while also helping imbed library services within the social network of that community.
In LIBR 275 I also undertook a project to analyze Spanish Speaking services in my home library. Because of my own involvement with this aspect of library service at my current organization, the degree to which I was able to self-analyze and determine on-the-ground strengths and weaknesses had the effect of putting the gears in motion to better mobilize services and identify weaknesses within the current service structure
While all the above projects certainly possess an economic component in that they are designed to serve a largely economically disenfranchised population, my compiling of 10 Books Every Spanish Collection Needs provides an affordable template for purchasing materials that would yield high circulation based on popularity and subject concerns within the intended community. This piece of evidence has its origins in a personal project; a blog I haltingly maintain called Accidental Bibliotecario. This particular list takes on the budgetary restraints of libraries where spending on Spanish language collections are concerned. With rampant cuts to collection development budgets as the norm, especially in California, this kind of collection development advice which takes into consideration such limitations is valuable to selectors in the field.
