When looking over some of the suggested activities to fulfill the required actions, one of the activities immediately grabbed my attention: study at the public library and observe the community. I love libraries and lately seem to have a lot of homework to do, so of course, I deemed the activity a natural fit and set out to observe this past Friday.
Upon entering, I nearly ran into a beautiful princess and Spiderman. Apparently, the library was hosting some sort of Halloween gathering for the children in the community. Many children, decked out in their finest costumes, continued to stream out of the building as I took my seat at a table near the Young Adult Fiction section. While I remembered going to events at my local library when young, I was glad to see that the library continued to exist as place where children could learn, find great books, and have fun within their community. I was struck by the diversity of the families leaving the library, too. I guess I naively assumed that white Americans would frequent the library the most, since it was decidedly more of an American institution, but instead, the families leaving the building were predominantly Latino or African American. I am glad that these families come to the Goshen Public Library and participate in these events.
As I observed, I continued to notice how diverse the library's clients were. They were predominantly Latino, but I also saw African American and Asian American. All the computers designated for internet use were full and I found out that people even call in to reserve spots since there is such a demand for internet use. Apparently, many Latino and low-income families who can not afford to have internet in their home come to the library to do their homework. While it is wonderful that the library offers this kind service to these families for free, I also realize that it must be a hassle to take time out of your day to go to library solely to use the internet, especially if one lives relatively far away. I take my internet access (and even the fact that I have a laptop) for granted, and I think many middle class Americans do likewise. Teachers frequently assign homework to children that requires they use the internet to complete the assignment, assuming the child will have this access. I did not have internet access in my home when growing up, and I silently railed against teachers who thought that all of their students could access the internet whenever they desired. For some reason, however, I assumed that basically all Americans would have internet at home. From what I observed at the library, I know this is incorrect. When I am a teacher, I hope to be sensitive to this issue and make sure that some of my students do not have an unfair advantage simply because they can afford internet access while others cannot.
As I continued observing, it seemed to me that the only "white" Americans who frequented the library seemed to be either older folks or middle-school aged children. Of course, the reason why I noticed the middle-schoolers could be because I chose to sit near the Adult Young Fiction section. Most of the older visitors, however, sat and read newspapers and magazines. I suppose this might be because they do not get that particular periodical at home, or simply because it is a long held tradition of theirs to always go to the library in the afternoon to read. I did not see any other people my age present the entire time I was at the library, and the only middle-aged people were either moms with their costumed children or library employees. So, I definitely was in the minority while at the library, which surprised me, but did not really make me feel uncomfortable since, as I previously stated, I love libraries.
To conclude my visit, I walked around for a bit, observing the various displays and sections. I was pleased to see they had a fair-sized section of children's books in Spanish. I also learned that every Thursday night, a group of adult ENL students from Goshen meet in the library to practice their English with volunteers from the community. Alternately, the volunteers are also able to practice their Spanish with the students. I would love to get involved in something like that - it would give me an opportunity to use both my Spanish and English and get involved with people hailing from different backgrounds. Perhaps when my night class ends?
All in all, I enjoyed my visit to the Goshen Public Library. It gave me a chance to observe some of the community happenings and see the diversity of visitors to the library itself. It also led to my reflecting on issues like assigning projects that require internet access when the child might not have ready access available to him. Though I probably was a minority that afternoon I spent at the library, I nonetheless enjoyed myself!
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