Library Resources Used by Immigrant Households - Research Paper Example

? Evaluation of 2 Research Articles People have been using libraries to quench their thirst for knowledge and it has remained a source of informationfor people throughout the ages. However, there exist several differences among the use of libraries by native people and those who have migrated to some other country. It is therefore important to evaluate the researches done on the immigrants’ information needs and their use of public libraries for this purpose. Hence, here two research articles have been evaluated and reviewed. The articles are on the topic of the immigrants’ use of libraries, their information needs and information seeking behavior. A focus has been given on the type of research methods used in these articles and the suggestions one can gather from them in order to fulfill immigrants’ information needs via libraries. Various suggestions have been given for the practical decision-making by a library officer. The first article is about the information needs of immigrants and the sources they use in order to fulfill their information needs. Silvio (2006) conducted research on immigrants from Sudan and selected 24 youths as the study subjects. He used the qualitative approach for his study and conducted research through focus groups and interview methods. For this purpose he made use of semi-structured interviews and took the help of focus group technique as well to get deep insight into the research question. The sampling technique used for this method is purposive sampling technique. However, the second article by Burke (2008) took different approach in conducting her research. She used quantitative research method and used questionnaire survey for collecting data for her research. The participants were selected using data from Current Population Survey conducted by census of US bureau. Burke (2008) in her study tried to investigate the issue of immigrants’ use of libraries and their information needs that they fulfill using public libraries. If we take a close look at the type of research conducted in both of these articles, we find that although there were limitations in the type of study method used yet they were successful in collecting valuable information about the less-researched topic of immigrants’ use of libraries. Silvio (2006) explored the information needs of Sudanese people in which not much information was available in literature. Therefore, the study was an important contribution toward helping the field of library science in amassing knowledge about immigrants needs for obtaining information through the use of library. The research method used for the type of research by Silvio (2006) was appropriate considering the nature of research. The research was conducted on Sudanese people and in order to select participants for the study, purposive sampling technique was used because of difficulty in finding Sudanese people in a foreign country. Therefore, 24 youths were selected and data was collected using qualitative research method such as focus group and interviews. Qualitative research method was used because it enabled the researcher to collect a lot of data from the restricted sample. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to get deep insights into the participants’ information needs and the sources they use to fulfill their information needs. However, limitations in this study exist due to the small sample size and purposive sampling technique used which makes this study difficult to generalize on whole population. The second article by Burke (2008) is about the immigrants’ use of libraries and to investigate this problem the researcher took quantitative approach and used questionnaire survey method. The method used by the researcher seemed appropriate for the nature of this research because the sample was large and it was not possible to use qualitative methods for collecting data due to the time-consuming nature of qualitative research methods. However, this study also had limitations in the use of research method because the researcher used the pre-existing questionnaire made by another researcher for this research. It questions the validity of the research tool used in the research as there might be some questions of interest which the researcher wanted to ask participants of the study but could not include them because of the restricted nature of survey applied. On the whole, the research contributed a lot by adding to literature important facts about library use by immigrants. Both of the research articles showed two important researches conducted in the field of library science. The information and facts gathered from these two studies can be used practically for public libraries in their dealing with immigrants. The study by Silvio (2006) brought to mind the issues of Sudanese immigrants and the problems they had to face in collecting information. The results of the study showed that Sudanese immigrants mostly used public libraries for academic use and occasionally for gaining information about jobs, politics and health area. The findings also indicated that the immigrants preferred the information they got from their friends and relatives and doubted media as an accurate source of information. Besides, the problems they faced in using public libraries were related to the staff of library and their behaviors toward them. The lack of study materials for immigrants also served as another problem for them. Likewise, the study by Burke (2008) highlighted the library use by immigrants and found that usually those immigrants preferred library use for their information needs who had a library near their home as compared to those who lived far away from a public library. In addition, the library use was also made frequently by people having higher education level. There were different reasons for the restricted use of library by some immigrants including lack of study materials and inadequate information resources for immigrants and culturally insensitive dealing of library staff with them. The findings of both the studies can be helpful for practical decision-making in libraries in terms of usage by immigrants. Certain recommendations can be made for a public library to facilitate the use of library by immigrants. First of all, the staff of public libraries should be given cross-cultural training and their attitudes and behaviors should be kept in tune with the cultural sensitivity for immigrants. It is suggested that the staff of library use bilingual mode of communication to facilitate understanding of immigrants. Secondly, the libraries should have separate study materials for immigrants and the recent texts should be provided. It is not sufficient to give the immigrants information only about ESL and related issues. It is a fact that some of the immigrants who have recently shifted into one country might require this information, however, the immigrants who are not new in a country would like to get information about all the other issues that might be of interest to native citizens of a particular country. Thirdly, immigrants should be given training sessions and seminars on racism in public libraries to clarify their misunderstandings about library use by them. It will enable them to clear their confusions and ambiguities about the way library staff treats them and will make them feel comfortable while using libraries. Lastly, the library officer should distribute pamphlets in a library having bilingual text to let immigrants know that their needs are being met. The implementation of the above mentioned steps by a library officer requires specific skills and expertise in dealing with immigrants. It is necessary that he effectively manages the library staff and works toward the looking after of immigrants’ needs in the same way he deals with native citizens. In this way, a public library can be a good place of study for immigrants and can act as a valuable source of information for them. References: Silvio, D.H. (2006). The information needs and information seeking behavior of southern Sudanese youth in the city of London, Ontario; an exploratory study. Library Review, 55(4), 259-266.  Burke, S. (2008). Public library resources used by immigrant households. Public Libraries, 47(4), 32-41.  Read More