Diversity Summit July 2008

What a wonderful gathering of librarians from all corners of the state. The 3 keynote speakers are leaders in their own right. Yolanda Cuesta is a consultant who helps libraries serve diverse communities; Maureen O'Connor is Director of Library Services at the Queens Public Library, the most diverse county in the USA; Juana Bordas is president of a company that focuses on diversity and leadership. All are dynamic speakers, willing to share their experiences! I am re-writing my notes and ready to start implementing a few new ideas. Handouts from the interesting workshops can be found on: http://diversityconnects.wetpaint.com/

Brief Article on Library Services to Diverse and

Here is a link to a brief article regarding Library Services to Diverse and Special Populations on the Colorado Department of Education Web site. It contains several links that look interesting.

http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/librarydiversity.htm

Michele Whitley, CW

Arapahoe County Council on Aging

ACCoA was organized in 1975 as the official spokesman for the county's older population and to represent agencies and organizations serving older people. It was founded as a result of the Older Americans Act of 1965 as amended.

The mission of this council is to identify the needs, concerns, and issues of older adults (60) years of age and older in Arapahoe County and to plan, advise and advocate for services which will best meet these needs; by enlisting, encouraging and cooperating and coordinating within the community.

This group meets the 4th Monday of each month at the Greenwood Village City Hall from 1-2:30 PM. The next meeting is July 28, 2008.

Quarterly Meeting Notes

Notes from the Special Populations first quarterly meeting are posted at:

Z>AST>Interest Groups>Special Populations

new juvenile fiction

hello, all,
I've been working on a brief list of new multicultural books for children in grades 3-5. One book I just finished is called Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate. It's about a boy named Kek who just arrived in Minnesota from Sudan and the many challenges he faces. It's written in very simple language to express the way he is learning to speak English. At one point he asks his aunt if she is glad to be in America. This is her reply:
"The freedom is a great gift,
She says. To choose your leaders.
To walk the streets unafraid.
But it's lonely here.
And...she hesitates. Hard.
To change when you are older,
To learn new words and new ways,
That is big work."

That seemed to sum up so much.

Quarterly Meeting

Hello, all,

We had a successful first Quarterly meeting thanks to all who came and to Katya and Richard for faciliating the group.

Be watching for updates on this blog.

A reminder to all that it is the expectation that you view and post at least once per month.

I look forward to working with all of you and to getting to know you better.

Have a great summer.

Cindy McFadden
Outreach Services Coordinator

Queens Library

One of the best websites serving multicultural populations is the Queens Library site. It not only has additional access points available in English, Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese and Korean, but their catalog is searchable in these languages. They also provide a really cool tool called WorldLinQ Home which provides valuable resources in several languages.