ERIC Number: EJ809635
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Sep-1
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0363-0277
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Available Date: N/A
Immigrant Nation
Hoffert, Barbara
Library Journal, v133 n14 p34-38 Sep 2008
In an August 14, 2008 story, the New York Times reported that ethnic and racial minorities will likely be a majority of the U.S. population by 2042. Many of the blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and others constituting this emerging majority will be immigrants or the children of immigrants; the number of foreigners hitting these shores is projected to rise to two million annually by mid-century, up from 1.3 million today. Currently, the foreign born make up about 12 percent of the population, but the guess is that by 2025 they will make up 15 percent, surpassing a high-water mark set in 1910. And they won't all be speaking English, at least not right away. Librarians know that they need to stock up on world-language materials today. This article describes how public libraries select materials for a growing population whose first language is not English. According to Library Journal's (LJ's) 2008 book-buying survey of public libraries, fully 50 percent of respondents serving populations of 10,000 or more and almost all respondents serving populations of 100,000 or more have world-language collections. On average, these libraries add 600 world-language titles to their collections annually, with the largest libraries adding over 6500 titles on average.
Descriptors: Public Libraries, Immigrants, Minority Groups, Population Trends, English (Second Language), Library Role, Reading Material Selection, Reading Materials, Spanish, Second Languages
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
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Language: English
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