Fiesta Latina a HUGE Success!

Our 2nd annual Hispanic Heritage celebration "Fiesta Latina" was a huge success. This event was the kick-off for our month long celebration of independence (from Spain) for seven Latin & South American countries. Fiesta Latina was a record breaking library event: 160+ people attended - more than any other event in the history of our library! Our Spanish conversation Group donated most of the food which featured recipes from each country. Oscar Macz from Guatemala performed native guitar music and sang traditional songs. Kimberlee Carlson and friend Maria performed several dances from various countries and encouraged many folks to join in the dancing. Fun was had all and photos will follow soon as well as reports about our travelogues.

Planning continues for Hispanic Heritage Month

This is what we did this week for our Hispanic Heritage project:
1. Submitted our application for a Humanities Montana Opportunity Grant
2. Sent out our press releases
3. Contacted two radio stations regarding possible interviews
4. Created a brightly colored poster
5. Talked to a sign shop about a vinyl banner
6. Attended a Missoula salsa dance for networking
7. Secured a speaker to present travelogue on Chile
8. Contacted UM advisor to Foreign Students about presentation on Guatemala
9. Updated our NVPL website calendar of events
Busy week! Very exciting to see and hear the enthusiasm from so many, both Latin Americans and others. Next week: create the banner for outside the library, research where to obtain affordable maps and flags of our targeted countries to display, research traditional recipes.

Webinar

Diana Miranda at Austin Public Libraries in Texas did a webinar on selecting Spanish language materials for the collection.

I've not watched it yet, but it sounds interesting. Here is the link to the Texas State Library & Archives Commission blog to get access to the archived webinar (Wimba) and Diana's PowerPoint. Might be worth a look!

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/librarydevelopments/?p=955

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.