Special Populations and Issues Interest Group - Colorado Association of Libraries

Special Populations and Issues Interest Group - Colorado Association of Libraries

Are
Public Libraries Meeting the Information Needs of English-speaking African
Immigrants?

Padma
Polepeddi – padma.polepeddi@jeffcolibary.org

Presentations done on June 6^th,
2016 and June 20^th, 2016

Highlights from the presentation-

My own immigrant experience
and how I’ve used and continue to use public libraries for my success,
empowerment and growth, my 20 years of public library experience in Chicago and
Colorado in several front-line and leadership roles working with diverse
populations fueled my passion to continue to research for ways libraries can
continue to impact lives of immigrants.

I received my Ph.D.
degree in Library and Information Science from Emporia State University
(Kansas) in December 2015 and my doctoral dissertation was on library hesitancy and the information
seeking behavior of English speaking African immigrants using public library
spaces. The findings from my study seek to fill gaps in the area of public
library services to English-speaking African immigrants by addressing their
information needs.

Issues
discussed:

·        
How can public library resources and/or
services meet the information literacy needs of new English-speaking African
immigrants (arrived in U. S. after 2000)?

·        
How can new African immigrants become
information literate as it is understood in the U.S.?

Why
should you be interested?

• African-born population in the U.S. doubled
  from 881,300 in 2000 to 1.6 million in 2012 (from U.S. Census Bureau –
  Oct, 2014).  Number of African
  immigrants in Colorado nearly tripled from 9,763 in 2000 to 28,731 in
  2011(from Migration Policy Institute - 2013).
• Seven-in-ten Africans speak English very well
  and two-fifths of African immigrants have at least a Bachelor’s
  degree(from American Immigration Council report - 2007)

·        
Growing
trend in English-speaking immigrants entering the U.S. prompts libraries to
look more closely at how information needs of English-speaking immigrants are
being met.

These
are the recommendations I bring to library professionals from my research
study-

·        
Public librarians must recognize that the new
immigrants experience library hesitancy - Individuals exhibit a type of
disinclination that manifests itself as a sense of false confidence based in a
belief that one has everything they need to be successful.  Findings in this study suggest that this type
of disinclination is due to a feeling of self-assurance and strength.

·        
Public librarians may be making a big
leap in their estimation of the abilities of the English speaking Ethiopian
immigrants to understand English language and to use it to identify, or convey,
an information need. 

·        
The reality is that the learning
abilities of the participants in my study was based on their early learning
situations in Ethiopia, which are not very effective for developing
communication tactics necessary for productive participation in jobs or careers
in a democratic society. 

·        
The reality also is that the
communication abilities of the participants in the study were at very
elementary levels that results in linguistic isolation from those who can
assist them in the library.

·        
Public librarians must assume the
responsibilities of knowing when to stop pushing library resources and programs
to new immigrants that are designed for high functioning English speakers.

·        
Public librarians could make use of this
study’s new description of cultural competency that addresses disparities
including: 1) varying language acquisition abilities; 2) varying educational
and cultural backgrounds; and, 3) economic stability and instability.

·        
 Public
libraries should strive to meet information literacy needs of new immigrants
once library services are re-set to correspond to the findings in this study
and to what is ahead for libraries as society becomes more diverse.

Comments
from library professionals who attended this presentation

Did you find the
information relevant and useful? Most of
the information was new to me. Even with conducting the Usage study at May in
2012, the information you presented was a very different look at the way immigrants
use a library.  Your personal story of
discovering libraries in Chicago, and how you interacted with retail store
staff, illustrated how revolutionary libraries are too many newcomers to the U.
S.  We take libraries for granted and
assume it is our right to have them!

I also liked the discussion of expectations by
immigrants.  Storytime was frivolous to
them as they had no frame of reference on different learning styles!  What an eye opener for me.  I hope I can phrase my questions and
information when helping patrons to improve their understanding of our
services.

I was upstairs floating for part of the
afternoon after your presentation, Padma. 
I was asked by a black man what he had to do to leave the library.  Evidently, he thought we had to check his
bags or something.  Of course I said if
he had nothing to check out he merely needed to walk out the door.  This question would have surprised me much
more if I had not just attended your talk! 
Thank you!

PAMELA
BAGBY

LIBRARIAN

A R A P A H O E  L I B R A R I E S 

303-792-8999 ext. 12103

direct line 303-391-3171

pbagby@ald.lib.co.us

What specifically
did the presenter do well?

I really appreciated the emphasis on personal connections in
researching and coming up with solutions for serving this group and other
populations.

peg hooper

public services manager

adult services

Jefferson County Public Library

8485 Kipling

Arvada, co 80005

p 303.403.5100

f  303.403.5115

peg.hooper@jeffcolibrary.org

Special Populations and Issues Interest Group - Colorado Association of Libraries

Special Populations and Issues Interest Group - Colorado Association of Libraries

Are
Public Libraries Meeting the Information Needs of English-speaking African
Immigrants?

Padma
Polepeddi – padma.polepeddi@jeffcolibary.org

Presentations sponsored by CAL Special Populations and Issues Interest Group

Highlights from the June 6th, 2016 and June 20th, 2016 presentations-

My own immigrant experience
and how I’ve used and continue to use public libraries for my success,
empowerment and growth, my 20 years of public library experience in Chicago and
Colorado in several front-line and leadership roles working with diverse
populations fueled my passion to continue to research for ways libraries can
continue to impact lives of immigrants.

I received my Ph.D.
degree in Library and Information Science from Emporia State University
(Kansas) in December 2015 and my doctoral dissertation was on library hesitancy and the information
seeking behavior of English speaking African immigrants using public library
spaces. The findings from my study seek to fill gaps in the area of public
library services to English-speaking African immigrants by addressing their
information needs.

Issues
discussed:

·        
How can public library resources and/or
services meet the information literacy needs of new English-speaking African
immigrants (arrived in U. S. after 2000)?

·        
How can new African immigrants become
information literate as it is understood in the U.S.?

Why
should you be interested?

• African-born population in the U.S. doubled
  from 881,300 in 2000 to 1.6 million in 2012 (from U.S. Census Bureau –
  Oct, 2014).  Number of African
  immigrants in Colorado nearly tripled from 9,763 in 2000 to 28,731 in
  2011(from Migration Policy Institute - 2013).
• Seven-in-ten Africans speak English very well
  and two-fifths of African immigrants have at least a Bachelor’s
  degree(from American Immigration Council report - 2007)

·        
Growing
trend in English-speaking immigrants entering the U.S. prompts libraries to
look more closely at how information needs of English-speaking immigrants are
being met.

These
are the recommendations I bring to library professionals from my research
study-

·        
Public librarians must recognize that the new
immigrants experience library hesitancy - Individuals exhibit a type of
disinclination that manifests itself as a sense of false confidence based in a
belief that one has everything they need to be successful.  Findings in this study suggest that this type
of disinclination is due to a feeling of self-assurance and strength.

·        
Public librarians may be making a big
leap in their estimation of the abilities of the English speaking Ethiopian
immigrants to understand English language and to use it to identify, or convey,
an information need. 

·        
The reality is that the learning
abilities of the participants in my study was based on their early learning
situations in Ethiopia, which are not very effective for developing
communication tactics necessary for productive participation in jobs or careers
in a democratic society. 

·        
The reality also is that the
communication abilities of the participants in the study were at very
elementary levels that results in linguistic isolation from those who can
assist them in the library.

·        
Public librarians must assume the
responsibilities of knowing when to stop pushing library resources and programs
to new immigrants that are designed for high functioning English speakers.

·        
Public librarians could make use of this
study’s new description of cultural competency that addresses disparities
including: 1) varying language acquisition abilities; 2) varying educational
and cultural backgrounds; and, 3) economic stability and instability.

·        
 Public
libraries should strive to meet information literacy needs of new immigrants
once library services are re-set to correspond to the findings in this study
and to what is ahead for libraries as society becomes more diverse.

Comments
from library professionals who attended this presentation

Did you find the
information relevant and useful? Most of
the information was new to me. Even with conducting the Usage study at May in
2012, the information you presented was a very different look at the way immigrants
use a library.  Your personal story of
discovering libraries in Chicago, and how you interacted with retail store
staff, illustrated how revolutionary libraries are too many newcomers to the U.
S.  We take libraries for granted and
assume it is our right to have them!

I also liked the discussion of expectations by
immigrants.  Storytime was frivolous to
them as they had no frame of reference on different learning styles!  What an eye opener for me.  I hope I can phrase my questions and
information when helping patrons to improve their understanding of our
services.

I was upstairs floating for part of the
afternoon after your presentation, Padma. 
I was asked by a black man what he had to do to leave the library.  Evidently, he thought we had to check his
bags or something.  Of course I said if
he had nothing to check out he merely needed to walk out the door.  This question would have surprised me much
more if I had not just attended your talk! 
Thank you!

PAMELA
BAGBY

LIBRARIAN

A R A P A H O E  L I B R A R I E S 

303-792-8999 ext. 12103

direct line 303-391-3171

pbagby@ald.lib.co.us

What specifically
did the presenter do well?

I really appreciated the emphasis on personal connections in
researching and coming up with solutions for serving this group and other
populations.

peg hooper

public services manager

adult services

Jefferson County Public Library

8485 Kipling

Arvada, co 80005

p 303.403.5100

f  303.403.5115

peg.hooper@jeffcolibrary.org

A Great Year of Tech News

Thank you to everyone who contributed by reading or posting to Tech Talk this last year.  It was quite an adventure for our Neighborhood Libraries team!  We have reached almost 10,000 page views on our blog. We will be no longer be actively posting to this site, but please feel free to continue to use the information provided.  We are now into full swing into Summer Reading on Pinterest. 

WeTransfer for sending big files

Sometimes you need to send a really big file to someone. Often times it is too big to send in an email. However; you don't want to sign up for a program and have to remember your username and password every time. With WeTransfer, you can send a file up to 2G in size, no sign up necessary. You just need to have an email address (no password needed) and of course you need to know who to send it to. 
Here are the steps:
-Go to: www.wetransfer.com
-Pick the file you want to send (If you want to send multiple files, create a zipfile)
-Enter your email address
-Enter recipient's email address
-Send!
The other person gets an email that says they can download the file. It stays on a 3rd party server for 2 weeks, then disappears.

This is a good website if you just need to send something that is a one-time deal. :)
 

ifttt: If this, then that

I came across an article about "ifttt: If This Then That". This is a web-based service that you an use with your various online identities, services, and places for storing and recording info. In the channels feature it describes numerous items, such as Evernote, Zootool, foursquare, and many more. Several of them I was not acquainted with, so this helped me.

10 ways to re-use your old gadgets

Sometimes technology moves so fast that we don't know what we can do with our old gadgets!
(You may need to get some help though!)


Here's a link to some interesting ways to find another use for your older items.
http://lifehacker.com/5901650/top-10-awesome-things-you-can-do-with-the-underused-gadgets-you-already-own?tag=lifehacker-top-10

Facebook's Biggest Privacy Threat May Be You

According to an article posted in the Techlicious Blog, Facebook's Biggest Privacy Threat May Be You. 
There are also several ideas in the blog to help you with setting and protecting your privacy.

Diigo

I always loved the idea of bookmarking sites, where you can store bookmarks to sites you visit in the cloud, but I never wound up using a service consistently. I tried delicious, but never got used to how it organized your sites, and when it looked like they were going to be sold and shut down, I shifted over to Google Bookmarks. I loved their "list" feature because it was similar to using folders instead of having to tag every link like on delicious. But then, Google shut down their list feature--just turned it off! All my beautifully curated lists were thrown into one big pile with one tag. Needless to say I was frustrated and looked again for another alternative. After surfing, reading, and researching, at the beginning of February I started up on Diigo.

Like delicious, Diigo is a web-based social bookmarking site. So far I think it's the best of the 3 sites I've used! Here are some of the reasons I like it:

• The toolbar is easy to use. If I highlight text on a webpage before I click "Bookmark this page," the highlighted text is automatically saved to the "Description" box. Very handy!
• I can mark everything private, or allow others to see what I've saved.
• I can highlight sentences on the website, and Diigo saves them for me! When I go back and visit a bookmarked site, my highlights are still there. (No more wondering why exactly I thought this site was worth bookmarking!)
• I can also post "sticky notes" on a page, too, with my own comments about it. Kind of like writing in the margins of a book!
• You can email your highlighted, sticky-noted site to a friend, and THEY can see your highlights and notes, too.
• When I go back and look at my bookmarks, the sentences I've highlighted show up in the annotated list...which means I can see the pieces I thought were valuable without clicking through to the site itself.
• Diigo runs on tags, just like delicious and Google, but it also supports a list feature. The cool thing is you can turn your lists into handouts of links, and Diigo does all the formatting for you. 
• I haven't used the social features of Diigo yet, but I could follow other people on Diigo, just like on Twitter, and see what they bookmark. Or I could be part of a group that collects bookmarks together.

The other reason Diigo is working better for me than the other services doesn't have anything to do with them! I noticed when using Google that I had a hard time remembering what tags I used to save a site with. I knew something was there, but couldn't figure out how to get at it easily.

So before I saved a single site on Diigo, I wrote down a starter taxonomy for myself. I tried to think of the ways I remembered sites, and then came up with a brief list of tags to use consistently. For instance, I will remember if something was a slide set, or a pdf, or a video. So now I always tag each site with a format tag. I also tend to remember what type of content it was--like was it a research study, or  blog post, or a news article. So I tag everything that way too. Then I also tag something by what project I'm researching at the time. So I might tag a site with "Storytime Newsletter," or "Spark Activity Cards" or the name of a training class I'm working on. And then last but not least I also tag by subject words.

The other technique I'm using is to bookmark everything I land on while I'm researching. In the past, I would remember visiting a site, but at the time I didn't think it was worth bookmarking, and then I had a hard time finding it again! Now I try to bookmark everything I read most of the way through. Now when something I've read is nagging at me, I can be pretty sure it's in my Diigo list somewhere, and my new combination of tags helps me find it.

Pinterest Curiosity

Who uses Pinterest?  I have heard people using pinterest for work, for library programming and displays, for personal use for recipes, hairstyles and decorating ideas.  I am curious to know who in our Neighborhood Libraries uses it and how.  Pretend I was patron, who had just heard about this, so I came into the library to find out more.  How would you describe it?  What are its best features? If you took them to the website and were showing them how to navigate it, what would you search by to present it to them? 

Tech Talk Winner for March - Jenny P!

It's a little late in the month to be announcing the Tech Talk winner for March, but I've had a few other things on my plate of late;) This month's winner is Jenny P. She got us talking and thinking about our ereaders and kept this and other conversations going on our blog. Thanks for asking thought-provoking questions, Jenny! Jenny's prize is a $10 gift card to Amazon.com. Congrats, Jenny!

This will mark the end of the monthly prize unless the new manager decides to continue the incentive. I know you don't need an incentive to talk to each other about the cool things you're learning as you explore the frontiers of technology. Keep it up!

Sign now

Usually, if we need to sign something (new hire documents, apartment leases, bank account documents, you name it) you have to print it, sign it in pen, then fax it (since many places won't accept things by email)

I've stumbled upon a site (which is legally legit) called SIGN NOW {www.signnow.com}

This site allows you to upload a document from your computer, electronically sign it (you can draw in your signature, or have the site pick a font), then you save it, and you can either email it to yourself or download it back to your computer. No lengthy registrations needed, just an email address/password.

If the receiving end needs you to fax it and you don't have a fax machine, you can use: http://faxzero.com/ for easy fax jobs.

Since a lot happens between library branches, this may come in handy! (Especially for staff at the Deer Trail branch!)

I understand this is a tech blog, but I leave you with some food for thought:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/the-upsides-to-working-without-internet-access-for-80-days/255606/

Happy signing everyone!

Improve your cellphone photos with Instagram

I don't take many photos with my cellphone but if I did I think I would try out Instagram. This article about Instagram sounds like it would be a good app to use to improve photos that you take with your android/smartphone. http://www.techlicious.com/review/instagram-for-your-android-smartphone/

The Future of Libraries

If you are looking for a positive Monday morning pick-me-up, I advise against reading the article by Steve Coffman that appears in InformationToday.com. It is entitled "The Decline and Fall of the Library Empire". Basically, Coffman argues that all of the things libraries thought they could do to re-position themselves in the digital age have been a bust - including web directories, Library 2.0 (never caught on), virtual reference, intermediated searching, public access to computers (actually showing signs of decline due to rise of smartphones and ipad devices), and even e-books (too many publisher restrictions/not a good investment for libraries). He says "The Electric Library is here - it just isn't us. It is Amazon, Google, Apple and Barnes and Noble". Interestingly, he says our fallback is to embrace the tangible property we started with - our physical books, the thousands of buildings,and the millions of people who still walk through our doors. He offers hope that in a world where physical bookstores may become uneconomical, we'll need places where people can get together to listen to stories or discuss books and ideas.
So is he right? It does seem that ALD is doing a good job both of responding to the public's technological needs and repositioning itself in accordance with Coffman's vision that libraries should hang on to their physical presence in the community . Are there any other options?
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/apr12/Coffman--The-Decline-and-Fall-of-the-Library-Empire.shtml

Harry Potter ebooks

The Pottermore standalone digital book store, which Christina mentioned in her blog, is taking an innovative approach in the battle between publishers, ebook providers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and libraries. Rowling is allowing the Potter books to be available on every platform, and providing unlimited check-outs. There is also the ability to download 8 copies of each book. Matthew Ingram gives a good run-down of what's happening at Pottermore in a GigaOm article. http://gigaom.com/2012/03/27/what-book-publishers-should-learn-from-harry-potter/

Harry Potter Now on Kindle!

If (like me) you are a huge Harry Potter fan and also happen to own a Kindle, you might be interested to know that the entire series is now available for purchase.

They are being advertised on the front page of Amazon but you actually need to sign up for an account with Pottermore, which can be found here: http://shop.pottermore.com/en_US. The books are compatible with all e-readers and foreign language translations are coming soon.

I Fix it

If you have ever wondered how to fix that broken electronic device yourself, your in luck. http://www.ifixit.com/ is an online repair community that has step by step repair guides and troubleshooting tips. Their mission is for everyone to have a free repair manual for everything they own! Fixing things keeps them out of landfills and working longer. Whether you use the site to fix it yourself or contribute a guide to help others. Take a minute to read their manifesto, and see if your not convinced that repair is the way to go!
http://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto

Whentowork + google calendar

Attention google calendar & when-to-work users:

Do you use google calendar frequently?

Do you rely on when-to-work to know what your work schedule is?

If you answered yes to these questions, you, my friend, are in luck.

You can sync your when-to-work calendar with google calendar so you don't have to log in to 2 places or manually put your work schedule in.

1. Log into the when-to-work program (www.whentowork.com)

2. click INFO on the top bar

3. hit the button that says "CONNECT OR REMOVE GOOGLE CALENDAR"

4.Follow directions to allow google calendar to get your when-to-work info.

Voila! Worked wonders for me!

What do you like about your ereader, revisited

I am curious as to what everyone likes and/or dislikes about their ereaders. We first talking about this in December and early January but I thought our views may have changed since then as we have become more familiar with our devices. Many of us had new ereaders then but what have we discovered now? Here is what I found....

• I love lending ebooks from the library! I had put some on hold when I first got my ereader and downloaded some just to see what it was like. At first I wasn't too impressed, but I also didn't download one of my favorite authors or books I would typically read. Once I read one I was more accustomed to reading in print, I was hooked at its convenience.


• I love the light weight and percentage read features! I typically enjoy holding a book and flipping pages so I still checkout 'real' books for this since nothing can really beat flipping real pages rather than tapping. However, another aspect of book reading that I always like is seeing how much I read in the time I have been reading. Its a vague measurement that usually consists of me seeing where my bookmark is and how long I have had the book. I love the percent read feature on the ebook for this reason. I find when I am engaged in a book, it goes super fast and I like to anticipate where I am at in relation to the entire story.


• I love browsing the free book section on my ereader! I know its a strange one, but I do. I have often used Amazon's site to see the feature "people who liked this or bought this also liked/bought....' I use this for recommendations and branching out in authors I have never tried. I also use the free book section this way. Recently I downloaded my first one and I honestly thought it probably wouldn't be very good because it was free. But I loved it! Perhaps they are being savvy in providing free books that get you hooked so you want to buy all the rest written by the author?


• I have a love-hate relationship using textbooks on my ereader -- mostly hate if I am being honest. I tried this out because I thought it I would like this method because I am a bit more tech oriented, but I definitely don't. I hate citing from my ereader. I don't know if since the ebooks are newer, citing rules are harder than for physical books, but it was an awful and time consuming experience for me. It was also harder for me to understand more complicated material on the ereader. I am more visual and I like the way textbooks lay out material rather than ereaders. Its not always as easy as just reading a regular book. After two weeks of citing and re-reading material, I gave up and bought the textbook. I used the textbook as my main source and the ereader as a back-up which I will explain more. The one aspect I did like about having a textbook on my ereader was that when I came to word I was unfamiliar with or couldn't remember the definition, I was able to tap & define. The other feature I found was instead of using an index and searching for material as one would with a physical textbook, I used the search feature which saved me some time. But these last two reasons are not enough to ever make me buy one again!This personal experiment has actually made me question all the articles I have read about schools using online textbooks and ebooks. Maybe it depends on the type of learner you are, but I can say it isn't for me!

So what have you discovered? Do you love it - what's your favorite part? Is it just okay - what would make it better?

DS/LMS Meeting March 20

Hi, I attended the DS/LMS meeting today at the MA library. Several of us believe it is the most important meeting of the district each month.

Padma brought up the topic of the various Tech Blogs around the district and that we are all in our own little worlds.

It was a very active and useful discussion with nearly everyone in the room participating.

The over-all consensus was that the Tech Blog is the vehicle and we as staff are to provide content.

Nearly all posts will in some way assist a patron at one time or another and that the posts need not be "Tech" content only.

Linda Maola shared at the meeting several videos on what a Danish library is doing to become more relevant.

Oli showcased the new update to the Staffbook, a Facebook type interaction.

I'd like to hear what others have to say. Blogs are to be conversations.

Draw Something!

My new favorite app for my iPhone is DrawSomething...it's like a Pictionary game that you can play with anyone else who has the app, whether they are near or far. (The app is available for both Apple and Android devices.) I have played with my daughters while we're all sitting on the same couch and I am having lots of fun playing with my colleagues from Twitter across the country!

You start by finding your friends online, and beginning a game with them. You'll need to know their username in the game or their email to track them down. Or, you can link up through Facebook.

Then you get three words to choose from: easy, medium, or hard. (My last three choices were anchor, bookmark, or Golem.) Once you choose your word, you are sent to a draw screen. Use your finger to draw a picture that represents your word. You get a few colors to start with, and can choose skinny or thick lines. You do have an eraser too!

Once your picture is complete, you send it to your friend. The fun thing about this game is that it's asynchronous. Just like with Words With Friends, you don't have to be playing at exactly the same time. You send turns back and forth to each other and play when you can.

The other thing I love about this game is it doesn't just share your finished picture with your friend. It saves a little video of the picture as you drew it, then when your friend is ready to play, the game will show it to them. They can watch your picture appear, and try to guess what it is!

There are 12 letters at the bottom of your screen as you watch the drawing. Once you know what the picture is, you use those letters to spell the name of the object. If you're wrong, you get to keep guessing. There's no time limit, and there are other helps too, such as being able to reduce the number of letters you see, or a button that rescrambles the letters in case you need some inspiration.

Once you guess correctly, you both earn 1, 2, or 3 coins, depending on the difficulty of the word you chose. You can use the coins to buy more colors, or you can add more colors by purchasing them within the app.

The game has been incredibly successful--it spread through a good chunk of my Twitter network in just under a week--and they report 12 million downloads in just a month.

It's quick, and creative, and I highly recommend it! There's a free version as well as a $1 version, but I do suggest that you go for the paid version since the free version seems a little buggier.

And if you want to play, my username is MelJean!