Basic Spanish for Library Staff

This course is designed to help library workers learn basic Spanish vocabulary that can help with Spanish-speaking patrons' interactions in the library. Participants will receive resources for understanding the basic information needs of the Spanish-speaking community in order to address their needs in the library while being aware of cultural differences. These resources will include a glossary of the most commonly used terms, information about gender neutral language in Spanish, and practice scenarios that are likely to come up in a library interaction.

Participants will have the opportunity to practice phrases and pronunciation in different situations. The goal is to provide participants with tools to assist Spanish speaking library users in a limited capacity.

By the end of the course learners will:

• Interact with Spanish speaking library users with limited basic Spanish
• Learn the most commonly used library terms in Spanish
• Identify the basic information needs of Spanish-speakers in the community
• Have access to practice phrases and scenarios to help continue learning beyond the course
• Understand the diversity among Spanish-speakers, including cultural differences and dialects within the Spanish language
• Identify best practices for serving Spanish-speaking patrons at your library

Course Description: This 4-week course will include two 60-minute interactive online sessions:

• Tuesday, May 16th @ 2 p.m. Pacific (3 p.m. Mountain, 4 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Eastern)
• Tuesday, May 30th @ 2 p.m. Pacific (3 p.m. Mountain, 4 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Eastern)

Please make every effort to ensure that you are able to attend these two meetings before enrolling in the course. If this is not possible, archived recordings will be made available.

Course Outline: When you log in to the Infopeople online learning site, you will see weekly modules with these topics:

• Week 1:
  • Learning about the Spanish-speakers in your community
  • Basic terms
  • Customer Service and Reference
  • Body Language & Cultural Norms/Values
• Week 2:
  • Explore the state and town resources for Spanish-speakers in the community
  • Basic phrases and pronunciation
  • Spanish reference & readers' advisory
• Week 3:
  • Understand the diversity among Spanish-speakers, including cultural differences and dialects within the Spanish language
  • Explore the use of inclusive language in Spanish
• Week 4:
  • We will focus on pronunciation and practice of Spanish phrases that you learned during the course

Time Required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend up to 2½ hours per week, for a total of 10 course hours. Each week's module contains various options for assignments, discussions, or online meetings. You can choose the options most relevant to your work and interests. Although you can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night, it is recommended that you complete each week's work within that week to stay in sync with other learners.

Who Should Take This Course: This course is designed for public facing library staff including, but not limited to: shelvers, clerks, librarians, and programming staff who interact with patrons of all ages.

Do you work in a rural or tribal library? If so, you may be eligible for a course fee waiver. This Infopeople course has up to five no-cost seats allocated for rural or tribal libraries. Fill out a fee waiver request, and if a no-cost seat is available you will be notified via email.

Keywords: language, lote, spanish