Dispatches from PLA 2014: Serving Immigrants and Linguistically-Diverse Communities

In recent decades the United States has experienced an influx of immigrants from all over the world. The foreign born population has risen and continues to rise tremendously. While immigrants from Latin America, China and India make up the largest groups, people from hundreds of other countries arrive in the US each year as well, including refugees, and all could benefit immensely from access to the services and informational resources that libraries can provide. Public libraries can be life-changing institutions for people new in the United States. They can connect these people to valuable information to help them in their new lives. The main challenges for libraries in doing this are: to find out what immigrant populations are in your area, in what numbers, and what their specific informational needs are. Then, the work can begin to try to meet those needs. This PLA session offered valuable information to those interested in connecting with and serving immigrants and diverse populations in their local communities.