Delaware libraries go bilingual

Anonymous Patron writes “The News Journal reports Most efforts remain isolated to libraries where there is a noticeable increase in Spanish-speaking patrons, and many programs rely on the skills of a limited bilingual staff, like Camacho-Church. But Anne Norman, state librarian and director of the Delaware Division of Libraries, said she wants to reach out to Spanish speakers.”

February 18, 2005 by Uncategorized 4

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4 Responses

  1. GregS* says:
    February 18, 2005 at 1:18 am

    racism
    According to Delware Quickfacts at the U.S. Census Bureau, Delaware’s Hispanic population in 200 was only 4% while the African American population is 19%, Asians 2%, ‘Other’ is 2%, ‘Other/mixed’ (mutt) is 1.7% (and yes white folk make up a healthy 75% (white=mutt to the Nth)).

    So, time and money will be spent to offer services specific to and only available to 4% of the population, ignoring an estimated 6% who are facing the same language barriers. Tch tch tch.

    Reply
  2. GregS* says:
    February 18, 2005 at 1:20 am

    link Re:racism
    Sorry, posted before adding the link to the numbers.

    Reply
  3. cronopi0 says:
    February 18, 2005 at 9:56 pm

    Re:racism

    RTFA, Greg.

    “This bilingual story session shows how some libraries across the state increasingly are catering to Spanish speakers as well as English speakers looking to learn Spanish….”

    “‘Rather than having a divide between those who speak Spanish and those who speak English, it’s nice to have a place where everyone can come,’ [Selbyville PL director Jill DiPaolo] said…”

    “At the [New Castle County PL] reading earlier this month were Latino parents who speak little or no English but want their children to have both English and Spanish-speaking skills. There also were Latino and non-Latino parents who speak English and want to help their children to learn Spanish.”

    In other words, these libraries are promoting programs for the benefit of their majority population (not to mention their mission) — that is, serving people who want to learn .

    Next, take a look at your census stats. Why the freak are you using race stats in a discussion about language? Try again, this time using the *right* set of stats:

    http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/lang_ use.html

    You will find that 5.23% of Delaware residents who were counted in the census (5.86% in New Castle County) speak Spanish at home. The next language in terms of population who speak it at home is… French, at 0.59% of the population, followed by German, at 0.52% and Chinese at 0.49%.

    And you have the gall to call the promoters of these programs racist? Your interpretation of the article and your choice of statistics speak for themselves.

    Reply
  4. GregS* says:
    February 19, 2005 at 9:20 am

    Re:racism
    Langue or race doesn’t really matter it still breaks down pretty much the same. Total up all the other languages and they come close to equaling the Spanish speakers. So if a library is going to invest in an ESL program it should be one that serves *everyone* not just a specific subset because it happens to be the largest minority in a group of minorities.

    Also, if parents want their kids to learn Spanish then the parents should pay for lessons. Its not a library’s mission to promote any other language than English. We can offer resources on all languages but to spend resources on a specfic minority above and beyond what you’re even offering the majority (I don’t recall they were offering English for English speaker classes) that is in fact racist.

    Reply

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