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Making technology relevant for new Americans: Queens Borough Public Library

Nearly one in ten Americans is foreign born! The U.S. Census Bureau says that between 1990 and 1998, the growth in the foreign-born population was nearly four times that of the native population. What do these figures mean for community information providers? The Queens Borough Public Library in New York has some terrific answers.

Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the nation, with its residents representing over 120 countries and 100 languages. One in three Queens residents is foreign-born, and almost half of Queens residents speak a language other than English at home. Queens library also has the highest circulation rate of any library system in the nation. A whopping 16.6 million people visited the Queens Borough Public Library in FY 1999, an 11% increase over last year. Many of those visitors were immigrants who came to the library to use computers (and to learn how to use them in the first place). But computers are only a tool. To make computers not just available, but useful, Queens librarians have done a great deal of research and network-building (among people as well as among computers).

Discovering the community's information needs

Partly because Queens' immigration patterns change so often, librarians need to do extra research to make sure their services are sufficiently aiding the community. One staff member's entire job is to continually gather and analyze demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau, New York's Department of Education (which publishes reports on the linguistic backgrounds of children in its bilingual programs), the City Planning Department (which publishes reports on immigration patterns), and various marketing agencies. The demographer breaks down all this data into branch neighborhoods, so that library branch staff can see a numerical snapshot of their service area. The demographer is also beginning to work on Geographic Information System (GIS) software, to produce color-coded maps of Queens' communities.

Branch librarians themselves also have to do a lot of scouting: paying attention to the stores that open up in their neighborhoods, seeing which newspapers are being sold, building partnerships with community centers, seeing whom the social service agencies are catering to, and so on. Fred Gitner, who buys French-language materials, visits the Haitian bookstores in Queens, talks to the owners, and finds out what customers are buying. Paolo Melillo, a manager for the library's International Resource Center, surveys reference librarians, who can alert him with statements like, "We're getting a lot of questions right now by people from Sri Lanka; they'd like to know how to import things from there." The International Resource Center also keeps a statistics grid at the reference desk, for questions in languages that aren't covered. For instance, Melillo says that they recently got a question in Swedish. If a pattern of Swedish questions arose, then this could have implications for the library's services. These research activities help librarians understand what community members are doing, what they need information for, and what languages they speak and read.

In FY 1999, the Queens Library website got 52 million hits. The Queens Directory of Immigrant-Serving Agencies is a centerpiece of the Queens Library website, and the fruit of the librarians' extensive connections with Queens' community organizations. Librarians compiled this massive searchable database of organizations offering services to immigrants in over 50 languages. Organizations in the database offer everything from academic counseling to substance abuse counseling to disabled transportation. The directory is available in print as well, and it is a wonderful example of how, with some database knowledge and the right connections with the community, a library can manage to publish an entire reference work.

Importing large collections of foreign-language books, print newspapers, and print magazines can be costly (for both libraries and individuals). But the World Wide Web can make it easier and cheaper for immigrants to get information in their native tongues. Queens Librarians took their knowledge of community interests and needs, and created WorldLinQ. WorldLinQ is a portal to the best the Internet has to offer Queens residents, whether it's the Chinese-language website of a local community organization, or the Russian-language newspaper of an immigrant's hometown. Included are Spanish-language health sites on AIDS and HIV, links to Orthodox Church articles in Russian, instructions in French on getting a Visa, and more. The site has collections in Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, and Russian. Users can download special software for reading and typing non-Roman scripts. All links are chosen and annotated by multilingual librarians for their usefulness to Queens residents.

Introducing immigrants to the World Wide Web

Imagine surfing the Web with a browser where instead of "Back," "Help," "Home" and "Reload" buttons, you had to deal with "Rückseite," "Hilfe," "Haupt," and "Umladen." Or consider what it would be like to land on site after site in Finnish. Now imagine that in addition to the language barrier, you've never used the Internet before. That's what web-surfing is like for many Queens residents who don't read English. The web can be a pretty uncomfortable place. But Paolo Melillo, a manager in the library's International Resource Center, has taught lots of new immigrants how to use the Web for the first time. How? He introduces them to the WorldLinQ channel in their own language:

You'll see they're already much more at ease, because they're able to navigate and go through the entire site, pinpoint exactly they're interested in, and really start playing with the Internet, and getting a taste for it. And once they get a taste for it, they can go out and do things on their own. So, whenever people come in, and they don't know how to use the Internet and they're really intimidated by it because they speak another language, I just sit them down, make them look at WorldLinQ in their language. The next thing I know, a few days later, they're already doing independent searches, and going to other sites independently of WorldLinQ. They feel much more comfortable using the Internet.

Changes in immigration laws lead more grandmas to computers

Because so many new immigrants are continuously arriving in Queens, the Queens Library sponsors formal courses in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Assistant program head Fred Gitner says that demand is far beyond what the library can afford to offer: "We have about 3,000 students in classes each year. I'm sure we could serve double that... In the larger branches and the Central Library, we have gone to a lottery system, because people were lining up at 4 o'clock in the morning for a 10 o'clock registration. Especially in the wintertime, it's not nice to see people doing that."

Interestingly, much of the growing demand came from senior citizens who wanted to learn English. Gitner says that "A couple years ago, [there was] a change in the immigration laws that required that senior citizens, in order to receive a variety of benefits, would have to become citizens. So we saw a lot more senior citizens coming into classes."

Formal English instruction is supplemented by having students practice at the Queens Library computer lab. The library has interactive multimedia software for learning English: the computers allow people to record their own voices and to listen to themselves speak English. This technology is especially suited for senior citizens, many of whom may be losing their eyesight and hearing. They can increase font size and create high-contrast colors much more easily with digital text than with a printed English workbook. They can also wear headphones and turn the volume up as loud as they want (whereas they can't always ask their instructors to shout in class). Finally, the computer-aided instruction allows students to proceed at their own pace. According to Ken Tabano, an associate at one computer lab, a large portion of the computer-aided English students are senior citizens: "You'd be surprised; they're relatively good on the computer!"

Tools for building multilingual collections

Altavista: Search the web in any language
The Altavista search engine allows you to limit your searches to one of dozens of languages, including Icelandic, Latvian, Chinese, and Czech.

Search engines for African, Asian, European, Middle Eastern, and Latin American websites
An annotated collection of search engines and web directories arranged by region. From Search Engine Watch.

Dictionary.com Translator
Type in a URL; this site will present the page in a language you'll understand. Translations are far from accurate, but they work relatively well for short sentences, and they get the main point across. This site translates between French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and English.

More translating services
Search Engine Watch maintains this list of free translation services on the Web.

North Carolina Disaster Response Information, in Spanish
After a flood, how do you clean your carpets and get safe drinking water? How can you help your children cope with living in a Red Cross shelter? How can you avoid scam artists in the wake of disaster? Here are research-based educational materials on family preparedness, response, and recovery from droughts, hurricanes, and storms. An excellent example of a university providing community information, from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

Bay Area Governments Online
This site is a public information service of the Association of Bay Area Governments in California. Highlights include a Regional Planning section (with data on land use trends), and "Ask-an-expert" services (for topics like workers' compensation and local environmental issues). Information is available in French, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.

Do you have more best practices in serving immigrant populations? Share your example.

Background Readings

Help Seeking in an Electronic World
How do other public libraries use the internet to provide community information? Professors Joan Durrance and Karen Pettigrew are surveying U.S. public library involvement in community networking and networked community information provision, and are conducting extensive case studies of public library-community networking systems in selected communities in Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. The research team is working closely with librarians to identify best practices for networked community information provision. This project will ultimately result in a suite of tools that librarians can use to evaluate local community benefits from networked community information services. This website features research updates and publications.

Internet on the Air
This public radio show aired November 6 and 7, 1999. It features an interview with Gary Strong, the director of the Queens Borough Public Library. He explains how Queens immigrants are using the internet to adapt to American culture.

Thanks to Paolo Melillo, Ken Tabano, and Fred Gitner for their interviews.