Rising to the Challenge

World Language Storytime

What’s a library to do when about a million non-English speaking immigrants move into town?  In the spirit of John Cotton Dana, Minneapolis Central has been busy creating resources, providing services and meeting the needs of a very diverse population.  You can tell this library’s different when you click onto information pages written in Spanish, Hmong and Somali on their website.  There are also immigration and citizenship pages crammed full of links and resources connecting patrons to programs and outreach groups.  

But what caught my eye was storytime.  Julie Pfitziner’s article in the Star Tribune, R is for 'read', explains that the Hennepin Library System offers regular “world language” storytimes in Somali, Spanish and Hmong.  This month they will start a Korean program as well.  "Research has shown that giving very young children the opportunity to hear stories and songs in their native language is the most effective way to prepare them to develop literacy skills in English," said Susan Glenn, librarian for youth services. 


The very  idea of the library is a new concept for many immigrant parents, along with the luxury of reading for pleasure or learning about personal hobbies and interests.  The libraries are bringing them up to speed, quickly.  Another complication is finding books written in Hmong or Somali.  Both cultures rely mainly on oral storytelling traditions and printed books are rare.  The library is using wordless picture books to tell stories in children’s native language and also in English.  

Renée Reed, Hennepin County's principal librarian for adult services and immigrant resources supervisor, offers insight that sums up Minnesota’s outlook on what some communities would view as a ‘headache’, at best, and makes me proud to be a library cheerleader, "Listening to stories in another language is an opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the wisdom of stories that might be unfamiliar, but have such a richness,” she said. "By exposing children to other cultures when they are young, it can do away with negative feelings and help them embrace many cultures with joy."

In 2005, Barack Obama said, "The true test of the American ideal is whether we're able to recognize our failings and the rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. Whether chance of birth or circumstance decides life's big winners and losers, or whether we build a community where, at the very least, everyone has a change to work hard, get ahead, and reach their dreams."

I think Hennepin County Library was listening.