The school library media center and the promotion of literature for Hispanic children

The findings of the survey are reported in the following major categories: (1) The demographics and linguistic profile of the students and the community in this study; (2) the school library media specialists and their personnel; (3) the media center's holdings and budgetary allocations; (4) review, selection, and acquisition of Spanish materials; (5) the book selection process; (6) the activities and events held in or sponsored by the library; (7) the positive trends in Hispanic children's literature; (8) the negative trends, concerns, and needs regarding access to Spanish children's literature by Hispanic children; (9) a list of successful media center activities; and (10) the author's recommendations to school administrators and library media specialists as suggested by the survey results.

THE SCHOOLS, THE STUDENT BODY, THEIR LANGUAGE, AND THE COMMUNITY

The breakdown of Hispanic students in the sixty-two schools surveyed is as follows: Eight schools had less than a 30 percent Hispanic student body; fourteen schools had a 31 to 60 percent Hispanic student population; sixteen schools had a 61 to 80 percent Hispanic enrollment; twenty-one schools had an 81 to 100 percent Hispanic population; and three schools did not respond to this question. The communities in which the schoolchildren lived, in terms of their Hispanic populations, are as follows: five schools were located in communities that had less than a 30 percent Hispanic population; twelve schools were found in communities with 31 to 50 percent Hispanics; thirteen schools were in Hispanic communities of 51 to 70 percent; sixteen had a Hispanic population of 71 to 90 percent; and ten schools were in predominantly Hispanic communities that ranged from 91 to 100 percent Hispanics. Six schools did not respond to this item.

A subsequent question regarding the children's primary language revealed that, although some of the schools had large numbers of Hispanic students, many of those students no longer had Spanish as their primary language. Forty-four of the schools reported that less than 30 percent of their students had Spanish as their primary language; eleven schools reported that 31 to 50 percent of their students had Spanish as their primary language; and seven schools had students with 51 to 80 percent Spanish as their primary language.

SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALISTS AND THEIR SUPPORT STAFF

The survey explored the ethnicity of the media specialists and the Spanish proficiency of the library support staff. Forty-eight of the respondents identified themselves as Anglo, five as Hispanic, and one as Native American. There were eight instances of no response to this item. The lack of Hispanic school library media specialists holding an M.L.S. or state certification has been documented in the literature on numerous occasions and was confirmed by the small Hispanic sample in this study. This demographic information was considered important when analyzing the concerns regarding access to children's literature in Spanish. The Spanish fluency of the personnel responding to the survey is significant when viewed in the light of the large numbers of primary Spanish-speaking students who are served in many of these centers. One question asked participants to check all items that referred to the type and number of library staff and if their Spanish fluency was high, moderate, low, or none. The results are reported in Table 1.