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ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS

English Only Cataloging and Spanish-Speaking Patrons: How Are Libraries in Kansas Meeting the Needs of Spanish-Speaking Patrons? Melendra Sutliff Sanders Emporia State University

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS Libraries and librarians are aware that the Spanish-speaking population of the United

States has grown dramatically over the last decades, and many libraries have embraced the role of providing materials and services for this Spanish-speaking community. Some libraries in Kansas have decided to create Spanish-language collections and have put effort into indicating those collections with signage, distinct spine labels, and collocation. A few of these libraries have begun to offer Spanish-language programming such as Spanish Storytimes, Spanishlanguage library documents such as library card applications in Spanish, and Spanish-speaking personnel. All of these attempts to support the Spanish-speaking communities are positive and align with the overall approach of the library community, an approach Maria Chvez-Hernndez and Howard Rodrguez-Mori (2007) note: Historically, the library profession in the United States has faced the challenge of meeting the information needs of Spanish-speaking populations by building Spanishlanguage collections, providing bilingual staff, offering library and literacy instruction, outreach, and provision of information services geared for Hispanics or Latinos. (p. 66) However, this approach is still lacking in one essential item, that of Spanish-language access to materials: the collections of many libraries in areas with large Hispanic and Latino populations are still largely inaccessible to many patrons because both the online catalog and the subject headings structure are available only in English (Chvez-Hernndez & Rodrguez-Mori, 2007, p. 66). Even when libraries attempt to make the materials more accessible by providing a Spanishlanguage catalog interface, Laurence S. Creider (2003) notes, the language of catalog records, both description and access points, has remained overwhelmingly English (p. 88). Or, if as Tom Adamich (2009) discusses, a library does augment its English records with Spanish-language

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS

information, the Spanish in such records commonly does not cover all the English access points: on the positive side, the main element (title) is in Spanish. However, subject access and summary access appear to remain traditionally English-based (p. 10). This is especially disheartening because research has highlighted both that the online public access catalog (OPAC) is the central source of information for the non-English speaking library patron, and thus plays a key role in how members of that group access and find information (Chve zHernndez & Rodrguez-Mori, 2007, p. 71), and that the only way to ensure meaningful bibliographic access for Spanish-speaking users through online catalogs, [is to] provide efficient tools for consistent information retrieval (Garca B., 2007, p. 36). In fact, without Spanish-language access to Spanish-language elements in the records, even if Spanish-speaking patrons stumble upon the materials they require, the record is not helpful to them. This is because the necessary information for selectionsubject headings and summary notesis written in English. This leaves patrons, as Bruce Jensen (2001) points out, trying to read summaries written in a language different from that of the very book which interests them (Libraries for All, Catalogs for Some, para. 2). Jensen does not hesitate to point out the irony, paradoxically, while the librarys collection acknowledges that not all readers use the same language, the structure of its catalog assumes, indeed demands, knowledge of English (Libraries for All, Catalogs for Some, para. 2). Another variable that comes into play in this scenario is that of the librarians ability to help. Even a skilled librarian will have difficulty facilitating access to Spanish-language materials for patrons who do not speak the language of the record. When Spanish-language material records are written only in English, no aspect of the record describes the content of the material for the actual patron. As Sylvia D. Hall-Ellis

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS (2008) points out, this leaves librarians floundering when trying to provide readers advisory services to non-English-speakers: Local OPACs need to provide multilingual access to the collection so that neither the mono-lingual librarian nor patron will be forced to rely on a bilingual intermediary to search the OPAC, identify, and retrieve items of interest without assistance (p. 4). Why then, if librarians are aware of the difficulties posed to both non-English-speaking patrons and to librarians themselves in accessing Spanish-language materials, do libraries not create Spanish-language catalog records for Spanish-language materials? Adamich (2009) points out that although

As cataloging and metadata specialists, we are well aware of the fact that incorporating foreign language elements into descriptions of the materials we are cataloging is not a new concept. . . .The large-scale access of that bibliographic information to populations that may best be able to utilize it (i.e., non-native English speakers whose primary language is one other than English) is fairly new. (p. 10-11) Along with this newness, come the issues of standards, authority control, and local practices based on budgets, time, and skills. Creating standards for any cataloging procedure can be time-consuming and difficult, but in regards to language issues, these difficulties multiply. This may be especially true of a language that is spoken in multiple countries, for as with American, British, and Australian English, variations in language develop in different language communities. Eda M. Correa and Nashieli Marcano (2009) and Vivian M. Pisano (2007) point to this issue of usage as a complication of creating cataloging standards for Spanish-language materials. Some library communities in the United States have attempted to translate the

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS

Library of Congress (LC) Subject Headings into Spanish as a means of establishing standards and authority control over Spanish-language catalog records. Not only does this strategy maintain the mono-cultural bias of LC, it is also extremely difficult to accomplish because there are as many variations in the Spanish language as there are different language communities (Pisano, 2007, p. 5). Outside the difficulties posed by questions of language usage, Ageo Garca B. (2007) notes that considerable financial, administrative, and technological resources and the concurrent participation of highly skilled subject cataloging specialists with excellent translation skills (p. 48) are necessary for the creation of an authoritative list of Spanish subject headings . Efforts have been made to create such authority control and to establish standards for Spanish-language cataloging of Spanish-language materials: Jensen, Creider, Pisano, ChvezHernndez & Rodrguez-Mori, and Adamich each point to specific examples where Spanishlanguage cataloging has been used well. Bilindex is also highlighted by many authors as a good source for Spanish-language subject headings. However, even with these efforts, most libraries in Kansas do not provide Spanishlanguage access to their Spanish-language childrens materials. I have drawn a small sample of fifty records, ten each from five libraries around Kansas, in order to learn more about the ways Kansas libraries are trying to serve Spanish-speaking patrons in their communities. When possible, I use records that are available at multiple libraries in an attempt to better compare cataloging and classification procedures. My sample records are from Great Bend Public Library in Great Bend, Liberal Memorial Library in Liberal, Manhattan Public Library in Manhattan, Topeka Shawnee County Public Library in Topeka, and Wichita Public Library system (which has three branches in the greater Wichita area). The populations served by each library are fairly

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS unique from one another, and the population of Spanish-speaking patrons differs from community to community. Liberal, KS is one of the first population areas in Kansas to reach a majority Hispanic/Latino population. In the 2010 U.S. Census, 58.7% of Liberals citizens

designated Hispanic/Latino as their heritage, markedly higher than the overall state population of 10.5%. While not all of these citizens were Spanish-speakers, 53.1% of Liberals population did designate that they spoke a language other than English at home. Manhattan, on the other hand, had a small Hispanic/Latino population: only 5.8% reported on the 2010 U.S. Census. Because of these divergent demographics, I expected to find a wide range of organizational approaches to Spanish-language materials held by each library or at least a spectrum. However, for the most part, each librarys records were fairly similar in content and access points, as well as their organization on the shelf of Spanish-language materials for children. One area that did diverge more widely than expected was the childrens materials each library held in Spanish. I have often heard the complaint that it is difficult to find Spanish-language materials, and I therefore expected the collections of such materials to be fairly uniform across libraries. However, I found only one juvenile title that was held by all five libraries, Animal Poems of the Iguaz, a bilingual Spanish/English book of poetry. Even the Spanish-language edition of the immensely popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Diario de Greg: Un Renacuajo, was not in every collection. While each of the records I surveyed contained a Spanish-language title, few of the records provided more information in Spanish. Of the five libraries surveyed, only Great Bend and Liberal Memorial libraries had any Spanish-language subject headings. In addition, at both of these libraries, for each record that contained Spanish-language subject headings, there

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS were fewer Spanish-language entries than English-language entries: typically one quarter to one third as many Spanish-language subjects as English-language. Great Bend and Liberal Memorial also came out first as far as the number of records surveyed that contained any

Spanish information outside of the title field. At Great Bend, seven of the ten records contained some Spanish-language element besides the title. Five of the ten records had Spanish subject headings. Four of the ten had Spanish-language series information, but only one of the ten had Spanish-language summary notes. Great Bend was the only library to indicate in Spanish that the items were in a Spanish-language collection. At Liberal Memorial, nine of the ten records contained some Spanish-language element outside the title field. Four of the ten records had Spanish subject headings. Two of the ten had Spanish series information, and five of the ten had summary notes in Spanish. From this sampling, the other three libraries together had four item records that contained a Spanish-language element outside the title field. Manhattan had two items with Spanish-language summary notes, while Topeka and Wichita each had one item with Spanish-language summary notes. It should also be noted that of the four records, three were for the same title, the Spanish edition of Captain Underpants, Las Aventuras del Capitn Calzoncillos.
Community Spanish-language Subject Headings 5/10 4/10 2/10 1/10 1/10 Spanish-language Series 4/10 2/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 Spanishlanguage Summary 1/10 5/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 Spanish-language Collection Indicated Not Indicated Not Indicated Not Indicated Not Indicated

Great Bend Liberal Manhattan Topeka Wichita

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS Demographically, it makes sense for the Liberal Memorial Library and the Great Bend Public Library, with their higher percentage of Hispanic/Latino populations, to have more invested in making their collections accessible to Spanish-speaking patrons than Manhattan, Topeka, and Wichita public libraries. The percentage of Liberals population that is Hispanic/Latino is huge in comparison to any of these other cities, and the percentage of Great Bends population that is Hispanic/Latino is larger than the remaining three cities. Still, even though it is a smaller percentage of the overall population, Wichitas Hispanic/Latino

community equals approximately 58,300 people. Liberals higher Hispanic/Latino percentage of its population comes to approximately 12,000 people. So, smaller percentages do not equal smaller numbers of people who are disenfranchised by a lack of searching access to library materials.
Community Great Bend Liberal Manhattan Topeka Wichita Percentage of Population Hispanic/Latino 19.8% 58.7% 5.8% 13.4% 15.3% Number of Hispanic/Latino Residents 3,167 12,000 3,252 17,143 58,300

Another way to come at this question of OPAC access is to realize that all of these libraries felt the need to provide Spanish-language collections. They have all put some effort into building such a collection: purchasing Spanish-language materials and creating a special location within their Childrens collections so that Spanish-language materials can be collocated. Each of the libraries has some special indication within their catalogs that materials are in Spanish, either a collection area name that includes the word Spanish or the inclusion of the word Spanish in the record. It is just that these indicators are not necessarily helpful to

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS Spanish speakers. In fact, these indicators could be viewed as a warning to English-speaking patrons, rather than a welcome to those who are Spanish-speaking. But they could also be viewed as a misinformed attempt to make Spanish-language materials more accessible to Spanish speakers.

Clearly, while these libraries have acknowledged not only the need of a juvenile Spanishlanguage collection, but also the need for that collection to be visible, they have not moved beyond the English-language world view to consider how to provide adequate access to this collection. From their OPACs, it becomes apparent that while they have collocated their juvenile Spanish-language materials, they have not thought out Spanish-speaking access. Collocation does provide visibility, and it can be an excellent way to highlight a collection that serves a specific group or purpose; however, collocation can fail in a number of ways. To provide an example of this, I will return to the one title held by all five libraries: Animal Poems of the Iguaz/Animalario del Iguaz. As mentioned earlier, this book is written in both English and Spanish. Because of this, not all the libraries have the book within their Spanish collections. Manhattan does not collocate bilingual materials with Spanish materials; instead, the bilingual Spanish/English books are integrated into the English book collection based upon format. Following this logic, Animal Poems of the Iguaz/Animalario del Iguaz is shelved with the English picture books. While Topeka Shawnee includes the book in its Foreign Language collection, from the OPAC there is no indication that the book is written in Spanish. At both Manhattan and Topeka Shawnee, browsing for this title is problematic. On the other hand, Wichita, Liberal Memorial, and Great Bend all shelve the book within their juvenile Spanishlanguage collection. This increases the chances that this particular book would be discovered by

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS a browsing Spanish-speaker. However, another small but telling example illustrates that even

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when the materials are collocated at a library, a lack of insight about Spanish-speakers needs is apparent. Great Bend is the only one of the libraries to label their Spanish-language collection area using Spanish. Great Bend indicates materials are in Spanish by using the word Espaol in their collection location. Three of the other libraries indicate the same information with the English label for the language: Spanish. Topeka Shawnee indicates only Foreign Language. To further complicate this, some of the libraries break out their collections entirely from other juvenile materials, but Manhattans Spanish-language collection is shelved within the Dewey Decimal Classification for Spanish-language materials (460). In addition to the failures of collocation, when looking closely at the OPAC records for this one book, it becomes clear that there is no standard being applied to how its Spanishlanguage aspects should be represented in the catalog. Great Bend and Topeka Shawnee each include only the English-language title for the book in their OPAC records. Wichita displays only the English-language title of the book in the initial search result from their OPAC, but when Full Display is selected, the English-language and the Spanish-language title display, along with the authors information. Liberal Memorial includes both the English-language and Spanishlanguage titles; however, they also include the authors names in the title field. Manhattan is the only library to include both the Spanish-language and English-language titles of the work in their OPAC without including extra information within the title field. In addition to title field discrepancies, there is the issue of indicating the language of the work. Topeka Shawnee does not indicate that the book is written in Spanish and English. Great Bend and Liberal Memorial

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS

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each include Spanish-language subject headings for the book, while Manhattan indicates in an English-language subject heading that the book is bilingual. So, we return again to the question of subject headings, summary notes, and Spanishlanguage access to Spanish-language materials. If the majority of juvenile Spanish-language materials do not have anything but a Spanish-language title to indicate that they are in Spanish, Spanish-speaking patrons are placed at a disadvantage when searching for materials. As Correa and Marcano (2009) point out, with the lack of an official Spanish subject headings list, most of the Spanish language collections in the United States are limited to being browsed and not subject-searched (p. 309). The inability to search the catalog on their own places Spanishspeaking patrons at a distinct disadvantage, forcing them to rely upon librarian assistance for their informational needs. As Creider (2003) explains, Spanish language subject headings are a significant means of enabling [Spanish-speaking] users to make use of the library resources on their own, freeing them from dependence on mediation by library staff (p. 88). The ability to search the catalog not only allows patrons to help themselves, it also increases the use of the collection. In their study of the Hialeah Public Library, Chvez-Hernndez and Rodrguez-Mori (2007) state, By January 2004, as a result of a magnificent effort by the technical services staff. . .approximately 88% of the bibliographic records for more than twenty-one thousand Spanish-language items in the collection had been enhanced with Spanish language subject headings. The circulation of the Spanish collection soared. (p. 72)

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS Since collection circulation statistics are often the basis for future purchases, retention of materials, and even library awareness and policy planning, increasing the use of the Spanishlanguage materials has a significant future impact upon the Spanish-speaking community. To be fair, none of these systems was created to allow access to Spanish-language materials or serve Spanish-speaking patrons. However, libraries are now trying to use these systems to provide exactly that sort of access. Adding Spanish to the name of the collection

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and providing a Spanish-language title are two such attempts. The American Library Association (ALA) has created Guidelines for Library Services to Spanish-Speaking Library Users (2007). Within these guidelines, ALA addresses this question of subject headings directly, recommending that bibliographic access to the library's collection should include Spanishlanguage subject headings in the public catalog to facilitate the location of Spanish-language and bilingual materials (sec. 1.3.1, p. 195). While many authors seek even greater integration of Spanish-language elements into OPAC records, this initial step of adding Spanish subject headings to Spanish-language materials has yet to be implemented by some of the largest libraries in Kansas. Clearly there is much work to be done.

ENGLISH ONLY CATALOGING & SPANISH-SPEAKING PATRONS References Adamich, T. (2009). Making and managing metadata in K-12: Foreign language cataloging, non-native English speakers, and equitable access. Technicalities, 29(2). 7-11.

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Chvez-Hernndez, M. & Rodrguez-Mori, H. (2007). Spanish language subject headings: Their impact on information access. In D. Miller & F.F. Martnez Arellano (Eds.). SALSA de Tpicos = Subjects in SALSA: Spanish and Latin American Subject Access. (pp. 66-80). Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Correa, E.M. & Marcano, N. (2009). Bibliographic description and practices for providing access to Spanish language materials. Technical Services Quarterly, 26(4). 299-312. Creider L.S. (2003). What are academic libraries doing with Spanish language subject headings?. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 29(2). 88-94. Garca B., A. (2007). International standards, bibliographic control, and Spanishlanguage equivalents in context. In D. Miller & F.F. Martnez Arellano (Eds.). SALSA de Tpicos = Subjects in SALSA: Spanish and Latin American Subject Access. (pp. 36-53). Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Guidelines for Library Services to Spanish-Speaking Library Users (2007). Reference and User Services, 47(2). 194-197. Hall-Ellis, S.D. (2008). Subject access for readers advisory services: Their impact on contemporary Spanish fiction in selected public library collections. Public Library Quarterly, 21(1). 1-18.

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Jensen, B. (2001). The monolingual cataloging monolith: A barrier to access for readers of Spanish. Public Libraries Using Spanish. http://www.sol-plus.net/plus/cataloging.htm accessed 3/22/12. Pisano, V.M. (2007). Subject headings in Spanish: From early days to the present. In D. Miller & F.F. Martnez Arellano (Eds.). SALSA de Tpicos = Subjects in SALSA: Spanish and Latin American Subject Access. (pp. 1-11). Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

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