The focus of my Social Justice ePortfolio is to examine the offerings of the Clifton Public Library located in Clifton, New Jersey and how they serve the immigrant population in their community. This page will focus on the research methods used in my Social Justice Project.
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This Social Justice project is focused on the immigrant population in Clifton, NJ and how the Clifton Public Library serves their needs. For this project I used the survey and interview method. I found that these methods worked well for the research I was doing within a library setting. The only drawback with trying to gather information from patrons is a library setting is privacy. Many patrons will not feel comfortable talking or sharing information with people they don't know. Togia defines a survey as "Descriptive research method used to “describe the characteristics of, and make predictions about, a population” (Togia, 2017). A well constructed survey is not easy to develop however I did try my best to make it useful (Hoffmann, 2020). I took a poll/ survey of patrons that asked for specific programming that centered around the needs of the immigrant population. Four categories stood out, esl classes, computer help, children's esl classes and citizenship classes. The highest number of inquiries were made in reference to esl classes. This was not a surprise, patrons have been inquiring about these kinds of programs for years and it doesn't seem like upper management is listening. A downside of using the method was highlighted best by a Carlsson research article that stated " it is resource-demanding to transfer findings into service changes, especially for smaller libraries, and results often support stepwise improvements rather than discovery of new services" (Carlsson, 2020). In the case of my library we do not offer any services towards this population so I am hoping that this method would shed some light on the needs of immigrants in the city of Clifton. I used the interview method to gather information from the circulation staff. They are on the front lines and are the first people that patrons see when they walk into the library. Staff was asked 3 questions during the interview. The first question was "What can we as a department do for the immigrant population". The second question was "What do patrons look for in relation to programming?". The last question was "How can we as a library expand on what we already offer?". The staff had great feedback. We all agreed that programming was definitely needed and that the library should be designed in a way that makes it welcoming for people of all cultural backgrounds. However, that would take more than just work from the circulation department. To achieve what we want to achieve with the immigrant population it would take collaboration and input from the entire library. Staff would also have to remove and stigmatizing content or verbiage from the library as well as realize that all cultures need to be respected and reflected within the library (Cho, 2016). Even the library of Congress acknowledged that wording and representation matter (Peet, 2016). If they can then we as library workers can too. My goal has always been with this project to try and create real change within my library. Will I achieve it? I'm hoping so but if not I feel like I have the tools to at least start the journey.
SOURCES
1. Aspasia Togia & Afrodite Malliari & Afrodite Malliari, 2017. "Research Methods in Library and Information Science," Chapters, in: Sonyel Oflazoglu (ed.), Qualitative versus Quantitative Research, IntechOpen. DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.68749
2. Cho, Silvia J. (2016). Producing Discursive Change: From "Illegal Aliens" to "Unauthorized Immigration in Library Catalogs. Cuny Academic Works. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2599&context=gc_etds
3. Håkan Carlsson & Tore Torngren (2020) Understanding Library Users via Surveys and Other Methods—Best Practices for Evidence-Based Library Development, Journal of Library Administration, 60:8, 925-944, DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2020.1820276
4. Hoffman, Kristin; Berg, Selinda. (2020). Survey Research: Useful, Valuable Findings Require Hard Work. Western Libraries Publications. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=wlpub
5. Peet, Lisa. 2016. Library of Congress Drops Illegal Alien Subject Heading, Provokes Backlash Legislation. Library Journal. https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/library-of-congress-drops-illegal-alien-subject-heading-provokes-backlash-legislation