Social Bookmark 2: The Literacy Center of West Michigan - Schools of Hope

For over 20 years the Literacy Center of West Michigan has been committed to helping people learn how to read, understand, and apply language in their ever day lives.  Their special program, called Schools of Hope was developed in collaboration with the Heart of West Michigan United Way and Grand Rapids Public Schools as a way to help the increasing number of families who don’t have the basic English literacy skills they need. 

Not only does this program help children who don't speak English but it also reaches out to their families.  The program is based on four components: parent education, child education, parent and child time together, and discussion time for the parents.  

 Parents attend English as a Second Language classes twice a week and children are given special help at school.  Each week the parent spends 1 -2 hours in the classroom with the child, in addition to monthly family literacy events.  The parents also meet once a week to go over what they’ve been learning and how else they can help their children and themselves succeed.

This comprehensive program not only ensures the success of the child in a new country but also the lives of their parents. 

Scholarly Article Reflection 1: “Cultural Competence: A conceptual framework for library and information science professionals”

Patricia Montiel Overall presents a framework for cultural competency in the library and information science field.  Cultural competence, as defined by Overall is “a highly developed ability to understand and respect cultural differences and to address issues of disparity among diverse populations competently (p. 176).”  This framework, though attainable, is hard to achieve.  The American Library Association has created committees, hosted panel discussions at conferences, and developed programs for librarians to implement at their libraries, all the while still feeling the gap between implementation and achievement. 

In Overall’s article she discusses Sandra Balderama’s findings related to the LIS profession:  “even where there is a clear interest in making needed changes related to diversity issues… there is a gap between what is said and what is done” (p.179).  She goes onto say, “This gap ultimately reflects deeply rooted “attitudes, comfort zones, policies structures and past practices” that impede change. 

To me, the quotations in the previous paragraph really hit home.  It isn’t just about thinking up ways to integrate minority groups or under served populations into the library setting; it’s about librarians being comfortable with these groups once they’re there.  We’re all trained to be sensitive to other people’s cultures and backgrounds but we aren’t taught to understand them.  We don’t learn about why they believe the things they do, or what parts of their daily lives are most important.  With that, we don’t learn what they want to get out of a library so that we can serve them the best way possible. 

From my perspective “sensitive”, in this country especially, means pretending to understand but not asking questions when you don’t.  We are told to feel comfortable with other groups but we aren’t taught what steps we should take to get there.   For some people this is an intrinsic ability, but for others who don’t possess the skill, they may never feel comfortable for fear of being insensitive. 

The other problem is not having enough staff and money to really see repairing these problems through.  This might not be a problem everywhere but where I work it is a huge problem.  While past practices (repeating the same programs, no desire for community outreach, pessimistic employees) stood in the way of change, now, realistically, there aren’t enough of us to support a large scale project.  Right now we have to concentrate on getting our daily tasks done and serving those that come through the door.  I’m sure a lot of libraries must feel this way too. 

In saying that though, it feels like giving up.  I hate giving up, especially when it concerns ways to improve perceptions people have about libraries.  Recently, someone asked me if I talked a lot at work.  They’re expectation being that libraries are quiet so I probably didn’t.  However, I work at the reference desk.  My job is to talk to people.  Since we can’t avoid talking to people in our profession, perhaps this is one way out of cultural incompetence.  Start small.  Notice the different groups of people that use the library.  Notice if they’re leaving empty handed.  Ask what they’d like to see that your library doesn’t have.  This is where our attitudes and comfort zones must be laid to rest.  Not only will you learn about a culture you were unfamiliar with but you’ll earn the trust of someone in the community.  Then when there is time or resources to invest in programming you might have someone to help develop programs that will really impact the people they are aimed at.

Overall, P.M. (2009). Cultural competence: A conceptual framework for library and information science        professionals.  Library Quarterly, 79 (2) 175-204.

Bookmark 1: The Arab American National Museum and Adventure Pass

The Arab American National Museum is located in Dearborn, Mi, a suburb of Detroit.  This museum is the first of it's kind in the world.  They are devoted to showcasing the positive impact Arab Americans have had in this country through exhibits, tours, and seminars.  Their collection is reflective of the Arab American experience and consists of art, three-dimensional artifacts, documents, personal papers, and photographs.  They are also very busy within the community.  They have summer camps for children, Arabic language classes, and diversity workshops for educators.  We recently passed the 9th anniversary of September 11th with discussions of burning the Koran and whether or not a mosque should be built near Ground Zero.  It's important to remember that extremists were responsible for the events of 9/11 and not an entire group of people.  If you live in the Metro Detroit Area you have the opportunity to visit this museum for free with a Museum Adventure Pass which you can check out at local participating libraries. 


Websites:
http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/


http://www.detroitadventurepass.org/

Cultural Mosaic: These are my Tiles

Georgia T. Chao and Henry Moon's article "The Cultural Mosaic: a Metatheory for Understanding the Complexity of Culture" proposes a deeper, layered look at all the parts that make up an individual's cultural background.  The world keeps getting smaller.  We keep coming up with new ways to communicate with each other: tweet, Skype, Facebook, blog and text.  There are probably twenty new ways right now that I'll never understand because my technology bucket has overflowed.  Some of us might be working or attending school, via the internet, with people we'll never meet in person.  It's only natural to stop and ask, “Who are these people?”  These days it is impossible to accurately summarize a person with one word.  We are all made up of tiny tiles, which gathered together create the picture of each of us.

I am a cultural mosaic and these are my tiles.

Demographically speaking, these are the things I've inherited from my parents:  I'm less than five and half feet tall with dark brown hair, premature grays (from my mother) and respectable eyebrows (from both).  Though, my father's are rather unruly these days.  I'm twenty-seven years old.  Since turning twenty-five I find it incredibly hard to keep track.  I think this comes from both of my parents.  My dad has to spin his family Rolodex before he can get to my name.  My mom has to subtract years from my father's age to know her own.  I traced my bad spelling down from my father’s side.  Every aunt or uncle who’s married into the family can spell perfectly. My dad and his siblings, my cousins, and my brother and I are all terrible.
My mom is Polish and my dad is German.  On my dad’s side, my great-grandma came to America during World War I.  I don’t know much about my mom’s family.  I guess I’ve never asked.  Both my grandparents on that side have long since passed away. 
While growing up, we had Advent Calendars and gifts at the foot of the bed on St. Nikolas Day.  My mom claims she made us perogies when we were little but I don’t remember.  Otherwise, I don’t remember doing anything related to either heritage.  Now, I’m starting to think about having children and how distant I feel from any sense of culture that I might be able to give them.  Maybe I would feel better if I knew more about these parts of me.  I feel very American.  This doesn’t make me feel rooted, though.  Not the way it should.  It just makes me feel blown over like in a bad wind storm.  It’s too late to learn much from my grandparents; I only have a grandma left. 
I live, work, and play in the first suburb north of Detroit on Woodward.  I occupy space in Ferndale and Detroit.  I don’t like going much further north on Woodward.  I feel out of place.  Ferndale’s main street provides that big city/small town atmosphere.  This city is big on street fairs, restaurants, outdoor patios, and beer.  I’m a part of my city.  
These are my group tiles: work, friends, and family.  This is the order I attend these groups.  I work full time at The Ferndale Public Library.  I’m a collection developer, a program planner, and part of the reference staff.  I don’t like to refer to myself as a librarian yet; not until I’m finished with school.  I’m still friends with people I went to high school with.  I’m friends with other librarians.  I’m friends with the ladies in my book club.  In these groups, I’m easy to talk to.  I like to joke around and make people laugh.  I like to listen to people’s problems and give advice.  I like to show people how to do things I know how to do.  I like to think I know people pretty well and that I can recommend books that they’ll enjoy.
My immediate family and I get along really well. I don't understand the rest of my family, on my father's side.  During the last election some of my relatives and I got into an email fight.  They sent anti-democrat emails and I sent anti-republican emails right back. I don't know if I'd officially call myself a Democrat but I'd definitely call myself a liberal.  Some of my family members and I don't see eye to eye.
My tiles shift, depending on my focus.  This is where I've come from and the direction I'm heading in.  I hope to keep adding tiles to my mosaic.

References

Chao, G. T., & Moon, H. (2005). The cultural mosaic: A metatheory for understanding the complexity of culture. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1128–1140.

Hello Class

I'm excited to take this class.  I live in a pretty diverse city and I am looking forward to collecting and learning new ways to provide service for the different populations.  I think this class will be very interesting and worthwhile.