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Jan 4: Portuguese Speakers Association

1/4/1997

Massachusetts Portuguese Speakers Association, Monthly Administrative Meeting Minutes

Meeting, Monday January 4, 1997 Victor DoCouto, Paul Pinto, and 27 others from MAPS and Karen Carmean of Library 21

To provide access to all the people of Cambridge and to insure that we manage our resources well, Library 21 is gathering information from as many groups as possible about what the people want.

W hat would you like in the library?

A. Community Activity Center

  • Plays on books and plays for children about books to encourage them

  • Theater

  • Movies

  • Cultural events on different cultures from Brazil, Portugal, etc.

  • Monthly special celebration of different countries: there are 68 languages in high school

B. Community Information Center

  • Multi-ethnic groups each have a web page organized through library information service

  • Rack or place where social service agencies could leave information for community based information- need more space

  • Bulletin board for special events of organizations

  • Rack for on-going programs of social service organizations

  • Guide for space available for community meetings

  • Guide for technology and equipment available for community non-profit groups

  • Flyers must be in Portuguese, not just English

C. Formal Education Support

  • Hook up to schools and work closely with schools

  • Hear something besides shhhh.... when kids go to the library: they hear this twice and then won't come back because they feel uncomfortable and unwelcome

  • Fundamental change in the library should be made so kids feel welcomed and comfortable and that they are not excluded from it being their own place

  • Perhaps a place to scream in the library so kids can see that there really is a difference from the traditional shhhhh...... kids hear in the library

  • Students should have a mandatory 1-2 hours in the library instead of being out on the street. It should be part of the curriculum.

D. Independent Learning Center

  • Internet assistance in using the internet

  • East Cambridge branch is very important to Portuguese speakers

E. Popular Materials Lending Library

  • · Keep books, old and new; do not discard

  • · Language books on tape: Portuguese and other languages in all the branches

  • Books on tapes in all the branches

  • Expand ethnic content

  • Books on video

  • Slides on Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde; citizens and groups could provide and library could store and keep them together

  • Specific cultural information including artifacts, books, tapes, movies, newspapers, etc., gathered in one container to bring to groups and help them understand the different cultures

  • Newspapers in foreign languages:

  • Local Portuguese newspapers: there are a dozen in the Greater Boston area

  • Wire service access from Brazil, Portuguese, Cape Verde etc.,

  • Internet equipment so more can use it

  • CDs of Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde music

  • Technological equipment to borrow and use from the library

  • Science collection is old and out of date

  • Learning channel and discovery channel have information which is terrific and should be a model for the library in the future

  • Televisions to borrow

  • VCRs, to borrow

  • Movie equipment to borrow

  • Slide projectors to borrow

F. Preschoolers Door to Learning

  • Story hours weekly in different languages

G. Reference Library

  • A-V packet: creation of sophisticated a-v packet of information on countries people here come from, like Portugal and Brazil

  • Need longer than one hour to search the internet and review the information and print it

  • Biology information available in the library was very old and out of date and I could not find out what I was looking for when I went there

H. Research Center
I. Other- important functions missing from list

  • Friendly librarians and outreach to encourage people to come and use the library

  • Outreach programs to the community and to people who don't regularly use the library

  • People coming to the library feel they are intruding in the librarians space and are treated like they are intruders by the librarians. "I have to tell the librarians to remember that they are public servants whose job it is to serve the public and that the public is not an intruder in their space."

J. An Important Civic Building