TeleRead and the multilingual library
What to buy? A foreign-language book or the biography of John Adams? That’s what more and more librarians will have to decide, amid fast-growing use of libraries by immigrants. Today’s Washington Post writes up the challenges of DC-area libraries.
The TeleRead take: Needless to say, a TeleRead-style approach could go a long way toward lowering the costs of a library system serving many needs. One of the best ways for U.S. libraries to aid the assimilation process is to reach out to newcomers. And not just through collections but also through onsite services. This is an issue transcending the “English first” debate. Outside the U.S., in truly multilingual countries such as Canada, TeleRead’s cost-savings would be still greater.
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