Working with the public, librarians encounter people from all walks of life, and various cultures and backgrounds. It is inevitable that at some point during your career as a librarian that you will encounter a patron that does not speak your native language. Where I currently work, I have run into a number of people who speak only Russian, Polish, or Spanish. Thankfully I studied Spanish for four years while I was in school, and much of it has stuck with me, so I have been able to help those who speak Spanish. And when the Russian and Polish speaking patrons came to our library, although I could not help them personally, I was able to direct them to another member of our staff that did speak those languages.

I have often thought about taking up learning another language or two, although I’ve not yet gotten around to it. Nevertheless, I think language learning is an important thing for those of us who work with diverse populations. And if possible, libraries should encourage their employees to learn a new language, and place those who are competent in speaking a foreign language in a position that could best utilize that skill. That could mean hiring bilingual English/Spanish speakers in a heavily Hispanic area, or someone who speaks Russian in a heavily Russian populated area. This is something that I think my library system has done well so far, and I would like to see this practice continue within our system, as well as in other library systems around the world.