Thursday, June 19, 2008

North Valley Public Library Begins Spanish Outreach

North Valley Public (Stevensville) has started its Spanish Outreach Program! Staff members, Amy & Carrie, attended the daylong training "Reaching Out to the Spanish Speaking Community" at the most recent MLA conference. Since then ideas and plans are underway. We would like to apply for the grant available to help us kick start our program. Communication and brainstorming is ongoing between the library staff and a Mexican American patron and a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua. This patron is also tutoring the staff in conversational Spanish and working together on translation of library forms and informational materials.

Some ideas we have for expanding our Spanish Outreach include:

1. Printing translated materials and directional posters.

2. Hosting a small scale "Get to Know You" coffee gathering of close friends of our Mexican American patron currently assisting us to recruit or identify potential Spanish Outreach advisory group members.

3. Determine level of interest in online Spanish newspapers or periodicals. Purchase one year subscription.

4. Determine level of interest in ESL classes. ESL certified library volunteer has offered to begin weekly conversation group with hopes of future, formal ESL 6 week course.

5. Slowly build Spanish library holdings.

6. Occasional guest speakers, Latino dancers & singers for Story Hour and Summer Reading Program.

I hope this information is sufficient to apply for the Spanish Outreach grant.

9 comments:

Sue said...

Amy and Carrie,

These are all great -- you've got some very exciting things in the works! Grant funds need to be spent by Oct. 1. What specifically would NVPL use the money for by that date? Maybe something for story hour or SRP? Or, starting the SLO advisory group? We just need a few more details. Thanks!

Kathy said...

Amy and Carrie,
!Muy bueno! (I don't know how to make that first "!" upside down.) It's obvious that you have lots of energy in your ideas. Reaching out to others in the community for help is one of the most important aspects of this program. Great job! I think that doing one step at a time really helps to make things manageable.
Good luck!
Kathy Robins

Amy Ling said...

Sue, some of the things we would spend our grant money on are:
1. Printing translated library forms and instruction sheets.
2. Printing a few promotional posters for a coffee gathering.
3. Coffee & goodies for initial brainstorming gathering.
4. One children's Latino music/activity cd for SRP.
5. Beginner Spanish/English flash cards.
6. 2 or 3 children's Spanish books.

Does that sound reasonable for Oct. 1st? Can you help us?

BTW, just today I spoke to two Latinos new to our area and ask them for input. They may be prospective advisors.
Amy & Carrie

Sue said...

Amy,

Thanks for the details on the SLO activities you want to do by the grant deadline. Yours is our first official proposal! We'll let you know as soon as we can about the grant award so you can get started. Good work!

Amy Ling said...

Thank you, Sue. I will look for some Spanish materials in the mean time.
Amy

Amy Ling said...

Hi, Kathy.Thank you for taking the time to comment on my blog. Tell me a bit about your ideas and experiences.
Amy

Anonymous said...

Sue,

Grant funds for SLO would be used to create informational brochures about library services in Spanish that would be available at the library and distributed to businesses and organizations in the county such as Lewis & Clark Literacy Council and Adult Learning Center. This would provide some initial outreach to our Spanish speaking population, encouraging them to visit the library.

Thanks! Judy Hart

Anonymous said...

The "Get to Know You" coffee meeting is exactly what we are also trying to do here in Bozeman with the "Community Cena". Have you had your coffee meeting yet? How are you inviting/promoting to the event to Latinos and the whole community?

Sue said...

Judy,

Thanks for your ideas for a SLO grant. Having library materials available in Spanish is a great first step to bringing Spanish speakers in. Having the materials at other locations is a good idea, too. We'll let you know about the grants in a week or so.