Spanish Language Collection Development
Prepared originally by Anna Paola Ferate-Soto for a CTLS workshop, “Must Have Nonfiction for Small Libraries”, held on November 29th in Taylor, TX.
Collection Development of Spanish materials is just one of several areas that need to be worked on in order to attract Latinos to your library. It goes hand in hand with doing outreach and programming. It is not enough to have a "perfect collection" without performing outreach to the Latino Community. They may never know that you have such a treasure behind your doors. On the other hand, performing Outreach or providing Programs for children and / or adults without developing an adecuate collection, would be selling the library very short. These three areas together with a promotional campaign are the key to serving Latino users in your community.
A few general tips to consider when starting a Spanish Youth Collection
A few general tips to consider when starting a Spanish Adult Collection
The typical Collection Development Policy needs to be adjusted to reflect the current state of the publishing industry and the lack of reviews available for Spanish Language Materials. Here are a few sample policies that deal with having a variety of languages in the collection. You can use these to adjust yours accordingly, or you can also consult "Serving Latino Communities: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians" by Camila Alire and Orlando Archibeque for a Model Diversity Statement to include in your Collection Policy.
Albert Milo created this list many years ago when confronted by community members questioning the need for the library to spend money on Spanish books. Al stated that if he were to revise the list today, he would add an eleventh reason - which would be to stay relevant to the communities we serve. Note: This link will take you to the REFORMA website. To get back just press the back arrow in your browser.
So now you have your materials, What next?
There are several reasons why Latinos and in particular, recent immigrants don't come to the library. Here are a few:
Latino families are quite close knit. It is hard to separate parents from children. The best strategy is to engage young children and then attract the parents. Read More
Revised in 2006 by the Library Services to the Spanish-Speaking Committee, Reference Services Section of the Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association. (Originally adopted by the Reference and Adult Services Division Board of Directors, January 1988.) Approved by the RUSA Board of Directors, January 2007.
from the Colorado State Library (Updated by Paola Ferate-Soto, 11/2007)
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