Planning "Spanish Heritage Month"

Hello, All! We are in the midst of planning for our first month long celebration "Spanish Heritage Month" to be held this September. (We got the idea from the ALA book "Bienvenidos!" by Susannah Mississippi Byrd.) Hispanic Heritage Month traditionally begins Sept. 15th which is the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua; Mexico declared its independence on Sept. 16th, and Chile on Sept. 18th. This is a time dedicated to learning more about Latino history and culture. We are working on a Humanities Montana grant - wish us luck! Our plans currently include a community celebration Sept. 4th (First Fridays in Stevensville are always big nights) complete with dance performances, native dress, guitar music and singing and lots of food! The rest of the month we will have weekly themes: history, literature & art, music and food. Events will include two travelogues (Nicaragua and Costa Rica), a bi-lingual story time, and Latin American recipes, including histories and samples. Our Latino community members are "all jazzed up" to participate. Watch for more updates!

SLO Networking continues!

Last Thursday evening North Valley Public Library made a solid connection for our SLO program. Two Bitterroot Valley Job Service staff members were at the Library to assist a large number of clients from one company. While talking with the BVJS representatives, NVPL staff discovered that the number of Spanish speaking clients using the BVJS continues to increase, especially in the spring when seasonal workers arrive to our area, and that their only bi-lingual staff member retired this year. NVPL provided our currently updated, translated library materials plus offered to assist BVJS via telephone whenever they need immediate translation. They were very pleased to have us as a resource. We look forward to acting as a resource for Bitterroot Valley Job Service and meeting the career (and recreational) needs/desires of their clients.

SLO in Summer Reading Program

Today Spanish teacher, Catalina Gerner, and our Children's Program coordinator, Patricia Meakin, hosted a program featuring Mexican food and art. The children learned how to make tortillas and salsa from a traditional Mexican (pre-Columbian) recipe. The children also learned the difference between Mexico City and Mexico the country. They also learned about the metric system in other countries. Each child made their own tortilla and salsa under supervision. After that they walked to the park and broke a taco-shaped pinata created by Patricia, who is eager to broaden the children's cultural awareness. Here are a few photos of the program.

Seeking ideas for Spanish Heritage Month

Hello, All. Just a few updates from North Valley: We have some delightful new members of our Spanish Conversation Group. One is from Chile; Erika will teach Spanish at Missoula International School and will be another terrific asset to NVPL, much like Catalina has been. (Catalina is from Mexico and also a Spanish teacher.) Another is from Mexico & CA; Arlette is a teenager going to highschool. These folks help us improve our language skills every week. Our group (average: 15) held a food & music fiesta last week; it's almost a monthly event! There were several new folks, including several 2nd generation Mexican Americans new to our area. NVPL recently purchased 4 audio book (on cds) sets entitled "Ingles en el trabajo"; "Ingles para entrevistas de trabajo"; "Ingles para jardineria"; "Ingles para construccion"; "Ingles para restaurantes." We are happy to share, so, please feel free to request these via ILL. Already the one on restaurants and the one on construction have been borrowed by some of our Hispanic patrons. We are beginning to plan for Spanish Heritage month this Sept., so we would love to brainstorm with those who have "walked before" us. We tentatively thought we would focus on one aspect (history, arts, food, etc.???) per week, after our big Fiesta Hispana for First Friday.

new library film to reach non-English speakers

The Greenville County Library System in South Carolina (http://www.greenvillelibrary.org) has produced an 8-minute film entitled "Welcome to Your Public Library" for use by foreign-born patrons. The film is in English with a few words (borrow, return, etc.) given in several different languages. It is both an ESL instructional tool as well as a library orientation resource.

From the library's home page, you can link to the film (YouTube) and an LJ article about the film.

Miss Today's Webinar?

Don't worry! You can still find out about Missoula's new English/ Spanish signs and all of the great SLO happening in Missoula, Stevensville and Dillon. The Webinar was archived on the WebJunction website. Listen to it by clicking on the link below and then come back to the blog and tell us what you are doing in your own library!

http://www.webjunction.org/slo-webinars/articles/content/60094033

Montana SLO Outreach Webinar

WebJunction May Webinar on Outreach Success Stories
Wednesday, May 13 12:00pm

Join three of your very own Montana librarians on May 13 for a free one-hour webinar, featuring real-world examples of successful Spanish Language Outreach. Amy Ling (North Valley Public Library), Marie Habener (Dillon Public Library) and Molly Ledermann (Missoula Public Library) will present the work they have done to sustain the momentum of WebJunction's Spanish Langauge Outreach project and discuss their ongoing strategies to assess community needs, make their libraries more welcoming, develop programming, and foster connections with Spanish-speaking communities. Montana librarians became involved with Spanish Language Outreach through participation in workshops in seven Montana communities. Since then, they have used the MTSLO blog to showcase those who continue to provide outreach activities, services and programs for Spanish speakers in their communities.

Register for this and other WebJunction events.