From the archives: LI libraries stock up on foreign language collections

This story was originally published in Newsday on March 7, 2004

On a second-story shelf in the Great Neck Library, the complete works of Miguel de Cervantes in the original Spanish joust for space with a Chinese novel by Nobel prizewinner Gao Xingjian.

Nearby, other books in Hebrew and Japanese nudge up against texts in Gujarati, a language of western India, and Farsi, which is spoken in Iran. Like many other libraries on Long Island, Great Neck's is running short on space, not only for its traditional collections, but also for books, audiotapes and video discs sought by a growing clientele from the Middle East and Pacific Rim.

"We have about 1,200 books in Chinese, but people always complain that they don't have enough new ones to read," said Vivian Liu, a Taiwan-born resident of Great Neck and retired college dean, who now serves as a volunteer library adviser. "Every time something new comes out, it's grabbed right away."

Times are changing at the check-out counter. As Long Island's population grows increasingly diverse, many libraries are scrambling to serve recent immigrants who prefer their book lectures, children's story hours and other services in languages other than English.

Elmont and Uniondale libraries are stocking books in French and Creole for Haitian residents, for example, and Uniondale is also sponsoring readings by Haitian-born authors. Meanwhile, libraries in Freeport and Patchogue are scheduling bilingual story hours for children in Spanish and English.

Elaine Perez, a library trainee in Patchogue, was surprised recently, when some Spanish-speaking adults showed up for one of Perez's scheduled children's story hours. It turned out that the adults - many former residents of a small mountain town in Ecuador - wanted to hear the reading along with their children.

"We wanted to do it just for the kids, but the parents came in too, and I didn't have the heart to say 'no'," Perez said.

Despite rising demands in some communities, not all local libraries are rushing to serve non-English readers. Foreign language collections remain relatively small, and some librarians say privately they're not convinced of the need for more, because they receive few requests.

Immigrants fuel demand

Regional library officials on the Island are working on the problem. Mary Beth Beidl, assistant director of the regional Nassau Library System headquartered in Uniondale, says the task is complicated because immigrants range from college-educated professionals who want specialized texts, to others who have never entered a library before in their lives.

"So we have to let them know we're here and we're not something to fear," said Beidl. "What's happening is that the face of Long Island, and Nassau in particular, is changing dramatically, and libraries have always been a place where people come to get acculturated."

Fueling demand is a sharp rise over the past 15 years in the number of immigrants settling on Long Island from Asia, Central America and the Caribbean. The phenomenon is especially noticeable along the Nassau/Queens border, but is affecting other areas as well.

In Brentwood, where more than half the population is now Hispanic, reference librarians and their aides often find themselves answering questions in Spanish most of the day. In Greenport, near the Island's eastern tip, librarians two months ago decided to spend most of a $2,000 state grant on Spanish-language books and DVDs.

From its regional headquarters in Bellport, the Suffolk Cooperative Library System now circulates books in 56 languages.

Making space for books

With more books, comes the need for more shelf space. The Patchogue-Medford Library is having trouble finding room for books and other materials in both English and other languages, due to last year's defeat of a $35 million expansion plan.

Other libraries are in the midst of an expansion boom. Along with larger book collections, there are increasing demands for lecture halls, tutoring cubicles, computer terminals and other facilities.

Uniondale's public library plans to quadruple the size of its New Americans collection of books in Creole and Spanish, upon completion of a $5.1 million expansion project later this year. Great Neck's library hopes to more than double shelf space at its main center, assuming voters approve a $19.4 million expansion in the spring. The system's center and three branches currently hold 300,000 books, including 4,500 in foreign languages.

Due to limited supplies, some readers have been left on their own. Three years ago, Korean residents in Syosset informed library officials there that they were going into Queens to buy books they couldn't find closer to home. Syosset's library has since started buying Korean books.

"When the library started putting in books in Korean, the community was so happy," said Sarah Kim, of the Korean-American Friends of Syosset group.

Foreign exchange

The most popular foreign checkouts, by language, at Great Neck Library last year

LANGUAGE and number of times a book was checked out

Persian (Farsi) 3,746

Chinese 2,906

Hebrew 1,248

Spanish 666

Russian 533

Japanese 207

French 160

Gujarati 95

Korean 47

Hindi 21

Italian 13

German 4

Yiddish 4