[Libs-Or] Opportunity to provide input on target language DVD project

[HUMMEL Penny]

Dear Public Library Colleagues:

Multnomah County Library is delighted to invite your participation in an
LSTA 08-funded grant project, tentatively titled This is How I Use My
Library, to create effective communications vehicles and educational
devices (DVDs), and support important outreach strategies for reaching
speakers of three targeted languages (Russian, Chinese, and Vietnamese).

There are a number of ways you can participate:

1.    Please review the attached draft script outline for the DVD. Our
goal is to produce a piece that is relevant to most public libraries. In
this seven-chapter DVD, only the last chapter will be customized to
feature Multnomah County Library. If you see something missing or wonder
about something that's been included, please contact me at
pennyh at multcolib.org by June 2.

2.    If you would like to participate more actively, such as in the
review of the script prior to production, or in other opportunities
related to this project (e.g., focus group feedback, preview event,
etc.), please contact me and ask to be added to the project's mailing
list.

Thanks to this LSTA grant, a free copy of each DVD produced will be
distributed to other public libraries in Oregon for use in your
community. We welcome your input and feedback as we develop a relevant
new product for your use!  If you have any questions, I'm happy to
answer them.  

Project background

As Oregon's population becomes more diverse, the challenge to maintain
equal access for all becomes more complex every day. The 2005 American
Community Survey reports there are 344,575 foreign born persons in
Oregon (9%); 463,754 persons ages 5 and older report they speak a
language other than English at home (13%). Latin American immigration to
Oregon increased 144% (as compared to a 20% growth rate for the state as
a whole) between 1990 and 2000, but these demographic changes pale in
comparison to what happened next. Beginning in the early 1990s up to the
present day, Oregon has emerged as eleventh in the country in the number
of new refugee arrivals. "With the support of federal and state refugee
policies and an active set of local and regional players such as IRCO,
desperate refugees from camps in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea in
Africa came, as did Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian survivors of
post-Vietnam war trauma in refugee camps in Thailand. These groups were
soon joined by larger numbers of new refugees and immigrants from the
former Soviet Union, who came to the area after political changes at
home in the late 1980s opened the door to their emigration. While the
vast majority live in the Portland metro area, thousands currently
reside in Salem, with significant numbers also living in Woodburn and
smaller towns such as Lebanon and Albany." (Source: Far from Home,
Slavic Refugees and the Changing Face of Oregon, a lecture by Susan W.
Hardwick in May 2007)

All of Oregon's public libraries need help serving people whose primary
language is not English. Producing a DVD in multiple languages is a
culturally sensitive way to create a multimedia digital platform that
can be used on websites, during library orientations, and in outreach
presentations. Whereas communication in Western cultures is typically
direct and explicit, in many other cultures, meaning is embedded in the
way the message is presented.

This project is supported in whole or in part by the Institute of Museum
and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act,
administered by the Oregon State Library.

Penny Hummel, MLIS 
Public Relations Manager 
Multnomah County Library 
205 NE Russell St. 
Portland OR  97212 
ph:  503.988.5498 
fax:  503.988.5441 
e-mail:  pennyh at multcolib.org 

www.multcolib.org 




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