Our Multicultural Neighborhood

The Need for a Multicultural Program

Multiculturalism has become a buzz word, beloved by some and ridiculed by others. It is a term often used in arguments about school curriculum and lists of great books. In the Indian Prairie Public Library District, multiculturalism is more than a concept, it is the reality of the community's neighborhoods and apartment complexes. Unlike certain areas of Chicago or other towns across the state with large Hispanic or Chinese populations, Indian Prairie does not have any one minority with a large presence. Although the population of the Indian Prairie Public Library District is largely white (90% according to the 1990 census), 9 percent of the population has ancestry from Asia, primarily India and the Philippines, but other Asia nationalities as well. In the eight years since the last census the number of Asian immigrants is believed to have risen as has the number from the Middle East and the number of African-Americans in the community (1% in 1990).

In the population of European descent, most trace their ancestry to Eastern Europe, primarily Czech, Bohemian, Slovakian, and Polish. These cultural groups still have strong ties to their ethnic communities in Chicago, other older suburbs, and Europe.

The library district has great diversity in nationality, culture, and comfort with the English language. The Library Services and Technology Act grant awarded by the Illinois State Library offered an opportunity to purchase materials to make everyone feel welcome in the library and to foster an appreciation among patrons for other cultures.

The Indian Prairie Library District is 10 years old and was formed by the merger of two library districts, each about six years old at the time of the merger. The library was housed in an 8,000-square-foot storefront until two and a half years ago. Because the collection primarily contained items published after 1980, it is a young collection, and because space was limited, the library never developed a collection with depth or much diversity. Now, with a 43,000 square foot building there is the opportunity to build a lively, dynamic collection, relevant to the needs of the community. Over the last several years student have been coming to the library with a school assignment to research their ancestral culture and to identify prominent Americans of that culture. For young people of German, Irish, or English descent this was not difficult, but helping someone find Filipino or Indian scientists or entertainers or politicians was a challenge. The library has been adding materials to address these types of questions, but the grant provided an opportunity to create a core collection that can be built upon in years to come, rather than adding a title here or there.

The library had already had donations of materials from the Filipino-American and Polish-American organizations. There have been displays from the Czech Museum, a Polish-American girl's organization and both the library's Turkish and Lebanese communities. Programs had been held on Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and the Amistad. The library wanted to make contacts with civic and cultural organizations to increase the number of displays and to add more multicultural programs to our already busy adult programming schedule.

The library's Life Skills Collection is a selection of books, videos, and audio recordings for reading, math, and other practical literacy topics, such as learning about American holidays and how to go about searching for a job. By building our Life Skills collection for use by new immigrants and by adding books, videos, and musical recordings reflecting the experiences of many different countries of origin, the library would become more relevant for everyone in our community.

The plan was to build the collections then to promote them through displays, newsletters, newspaper articles, and a participatory program called "Reach for the World." It was decided that only materials in English would be purchased since the library does not have one language group predominantly represented in

Debra Wordinger, Head of Adult Services, Indian Prairie Public Library District, Darien.

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the community. The first problem then was to find materials that fit the criteria. Items were wanted that reflected the ethnic make-up of the community: Asian, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern first, and then look to other cultures with less of a presence in the community.

Grant Activities

Identifying videos was the easiest task. The Videohound Golden Movie Retriever contains a language/country of origin index, which marks movies it considers of special merit with a specific symbol. Looking under India, Poland, Czech Republic, etc. a list was compiled that was double checked with the library's supplier for availability. The selections also were checked for diversity of content to reflect the variety of experiences within the culture. For example, not every Polish movie in the collection is about the Holocaust and World War II. Facets Multimedia has published a catalog of video lists. Included in the publication is a list of 600 foreign language movies. This list was also invaluable. For countries still under represented, The Film Encyclopedia, by Ephraim Katz, was used. Its articles on the film industry in specific countries identified classic movies and prominent directors.

Fiction titles by Asian-American authors were not difficult to identify. What Do I Read Next: Multicultural Fiction gave many titles that were checked for availability. The Fiction Catalog gave a few more titles. Finding novels about the European-American experience proved much harder. What Do I Read Next: Multicultural Fiction does not include European ethnic groups. Older editions of the Fiction Catalog and What Historical Fiction Do I Read Next were used to create a short list of pertinent titles, many of which were found to be out print.

Next, literature in translation was purchased. The literature of India, the Philippines, the Middle East, and, Eastern Europe was concentrated on first and then China, Japan, other non-English speaking European countries, Latin America, and Africa. The Fiction Catalog, The Public Library Catalog, and The Readers Advisor: World Literature were used to purchase novels, short stories, poetry and plays. The addition of these world classics gives depth and character to the collection, but because translated literature is usually of classics and literary titles, these are titles that will be used by the public for years to come, but are not the first choice of the patron looking for a relaxing, quick read.

By using the Public Library Catalog and the automated inventory product of the library's primary book supplier, books were added on the cooking, arts and crafts of India and other Asian countries and of Eastern European countries.

Compact discs and cassette recording of the folk music of, primarily, the target regions were ordered, but from other regions of the world as well.

In conjunction with the grant, three local periodicals were added. These were India Light, Polish Suburban News, and Pakistani Journal of Chicago and are shelved with the library's other current periodicals.

The materials for the Life Skills collection were the most difficult to identify and obtain. Each company has its own catalog. Titles of materials changed or were slightly different on the separate items within a kit. For example, a set of books and cassettes would often not have the same title on each item. Items go out of print quickly, and small companies were slow in shipping orders. Materials in all formats were ordered. CD-ROM, video, audio, and print. There were problems obtaining all these formats in a timely fashion or even getting them at all. One half of the grant budget was earmarked for the Life Skills collection; but because of the difficulties described above and the time constraints of the grant, the library was unable to do so.

Once materials began to arrive the next problems arose. Many of these materials were unique to the Suburban Library System's SWAN database. This meant that original cataloging needed to be done at the system level while the items waited on shelves in Technical Services.

The staff now worked on bibliographies of foreign language films, world authors, the ethnic American experience and African-American authors. The adult department bimonthly newsletter for July/August was designed around a multicultural cooking theme. A handout for use by staff and students on researching cultures was compiled, as was a list of Chicago-area ethnic museums.

Two brochures were created, one highlighted resources within the library for new immigrants and the other addressed materials for exploring different cultures at the library.

The library's Guide to Organizations (Go guide) also was being compiled and printed. The guide is available free to any group listed in it. Copies were mailed to the cultural groups with a cover letter

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explaining the grant and extending a special invitation to share their culture with displays and programs. Copies of the brochures "Reach for the World at the Indian Prairie Public Library" and "Library Services for the New Immigrant" also were included.

"Reach for the World"

By the end of the summer, materials were processed, bibliographies and flyers were printed, and the "Reach for the World" program was begun. All displays in the Adult Department at this time promoted the "Reach for the World" theme. Slatwall at the end of each bookcase held colorful "Reach for the World" posters and books from all areas of the Dewey divisions were displayed. Foreign language films were displayed in the audio-visual area, and at the Readers Advisory Desk world authors were displayed as were novels of various immigrant groups.

In the lobby additional posters invited patrons to "Reach for the World." A three -by-four-foot world map was displayed and patrons were asked to put a dot on the map of their land of ancestry.

Posters in the lobby. Adult Services Department, and the elevator promoted multicultural programs. The last page of the fall program flyer invited patrons to participate in "Reach for the World," earning point for various activities (visiting an ethnic museum, reading a book by a foreign author, cooking an ethnic dish, etc.) that were part of a culture different from their own. After five points were earned the patron received a travel alarm (donated by the Friends of the Indian Prairie Public Library), and their name was put into a drawing for give certificates to local ethnic restaurants (donated by the Friends and some of the restaurants.).

Judging Success

How well did all this work? In some areas better than others. The map in the lobby was a big success. Patrons enjoyed putting their "dot" on the map, especially if they had their children with them. Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic were layered with dots as were Manila and certain cities in India. A staff member and resident from Columbia was pleased but surprised to see another dot appear in her country. We were surprised at the number of dots in Ireland and to see we had dots in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Everyone enjoyed looking at the map and seeing the dots blossom across its surface. In a very visual way it displayed our cultural diversity.

Four programs were held in conjunction with the grant. A morning program on Japan had an attendance of only 12, and a new program series the library was trying (program and brown bag lunch) to lure seniors in for programs who may not want to go out at night. A program on the arts of India was an evening program and only had an attendance of 10. However, a program about Czech culture had 66 and a multicultural storyteller had 30. The average attendance for all adult library programs during the last fiscal year was 40.

Collection use varies by format. In a recent spot check, 40 percent of the grant videos were out while only 3 percent of the books were out. Readers Services staff, who also assist patrons with audio visual materials, reported a patron excited by the Iranian movies in the collection. Reserves were placed on the titles that were out and the patron could not wait to tell other Iranians she knew about them. Similar exchanges have occurred with Indian patrons. African-American patrons have been placed to see the African-American bibliography.

Fiction books on the displays did go out, but not with the same enthusiasm as the movies. Patrons have also been happy with the Life Skills Collection. Several tutors use the library to meet with their students. As we introduce them to this collection we hope word will spread.

One of the Indian organizations contacted during the grant contacted the library to use the library's meeting room. Hopefully more will do so in the future.

The "Reach for the World" program had a very poor showing, with 19 completing it.. The participants' activities for completing the program were wonderful and included talking to students from Mexico about their holidays, visiting the Czech Heritage Museum, cooking egg rolls, speaking to a neighbor about an Indian festival and making a dream catcher. The library has an adult summer reading program, which ended August 31. "Reach for the World" began Sept. 1, and ended Oct. 31, following immediately on the heels of summer reading.

Those most enthusiastic about the new materials in the collection were patrons from minority groups, although the program on Czech culture was very well attended and the Polish Suburban News is regularly read. The goal of making more recent immigrant groups comfortable in the library was addressed and shows a direction for future library collection development and programming. It is less clear how successful

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the other half of the grant was. Opening people's minds to diversity and acceptance of others is a lifelong education. The "Reach for the World" activity specifically required participants to taste the arts, literature, food, or culture of others. Continuing to have displays and programs will also keep the fact of local diversity in evidence.

The library sees the foundation set down by the grant as having long lasting implications for the collection and programming. Although not every element of the grant showed immediate results, the library believes that the proof will be in increased usage of the library by all groups within the community, increased participation in library planning, and greater awareness within the community of the diversity around us.

How Could Improvements Have Been Made?

A few of the weaknesses could have been improved by the following changes:

• "Reach for the World" followed too closely upon summer reading. It would have been better to have had "Reach for the World" instead of summer reading or to have held it in the winter. However, under the schedule of this particular grant, neither of those two alternatives were possible.

• If the theme had been library wide and carried into the children's department with programming and displays, children's participation might have encouraged parent participation.

• The "Reach for the World" program details and form could have been more prominent in the library programming flyer.

The Future

The library has plans to continue to build on the foundation begun by this grant.

• To continue with programs reflecting the arts, geography, and history of many cultures and countries. Programs have already been scheduled for Polish Christmas ornaments and the underground railroad.

• To continue the purchase of foreign language films. The library currently has a collection of approximately 115 subtitled films, 35 percent of which were purchased as part of the grant. These have proven quite popular with patrons and additional titles will be added.

• To purchase popular titles written by Indian, Filipino, and Middle Eastern-Americans as well as titles about Eastern Europeans in America as they become available.

• To purchase nonfiction titles on the history of these groups in America and on their arts, crafts, and cooking.

• To purchase reference titles for use with school assignments on ethnic diversity. Recent additions include The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music.

• To continue subscriptions for the local interest ethnic periodicals.

• To feature displays from different cultural groups in the library display cabinets.

• To continue each year with the library's guide to organizations, the Go Guide.

• To add materials to the Life Skills collection, especially audio-visual materials.

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