Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Definitions and Scope of the Book: When We Talk About ‘Refugees and Other New Arrivals’, Who Exactly Do We Mean?
- 2 What Has Been the Response in the UK?
- 3 What Does Any of This Have to Do with Libraries?
- 4 Libraries’ Responses in the UK – Historical Background
- 5 What Barriers are There to the Take-Up of Library Services by New Arrivals? And How Can We Begin to Dismantle These?
- 6 How Are Libraries Responding Today? And What More Can We Do? Some Practical Ideas …
- 7 And What Can We Learn From Elsewhere?
- 8 Conclusions
- Appendices
- Endnotes
- References
- Index
7 - And What Can We Learn From Elsewhere?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 January 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Definitions and Scope of the Book: When We Talk About ‘Refugees and Other New Arrivals’, Who Exactly Do We Mean?
- 2 What Has Been the Response in the UK?
- 3 What Does Any of This Have to Do with Libraries?
- 4 Libraries’ Responses in the UK – Historical Background
- 5 What Barriers are There to the Take-Up of Library Services by New Arrivals? And How Can We Begin to Dismantle These?
- 6 How Are Libraries Responding Today? And What More Can We Do? Some Practical Ideas …
- 7 And What Can We Learn From Elsewhere?
- 8 Conclusions
- Appendices
- Endnotes
- References
- Index
Summary
The main focus of this book has been on practice and experience in the UK, but, of course, that does not mean that we should become insular.
It is vital that we all keep up to date with world news, especially events that are likely to have an impact on people seeking sanctuary and other new arrivals. It is also vital that we find out as much as possible about what libraries outside the UK are developing – there will be things we can learn!
In preparing this book, I have regularly asked libraries other than public libraries for examples, case studies, lessons learned, but with very little in the way of response (except the terrific examples included elsewhere), so have decided to fill in some of those gaps with some examples from outside the UK. (There will be more about this lack of response in the Conclusions chapter.)
Academic libraries: ‘Project Welcome’
With funding from the US Institute of Museum and Library Services, ‘Project Welcome’ began as a one-year planning grant (May 2016–April 2017) that was extended an additional year until April 2018. The project: ‘… aims to learn about and articulate ways libraries can address the information needs of refugees and asylum seekers in order to support and empower them in their resettlement and integration process.’ (Project Welcome, n.d.)
An article published in 2017 (Bowdoin et al., 2017) summarised some of what the project achieved:
Refugees and asylum seekers are very much in the news today, and libraries work to identify information resources, services, skills, training and/or research in order to support the resettlement and integration of these groups. ALA has passed resolutions and gathered information about how libraries respond to and empower immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Public libraries have often been leaders in these activities providing library cards; computers with Internet access; free wifi; books, movies, and materials in a number of languages; English classes; electronic resources; programs on topics, such as job searching; and library staff to assist with questions.
Academic libraries also support research and the teaching of refugees forced into migration as well as library users who are refugees and asylum seekers.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Libraries and SanctuarySupporting Refugees and New Arrivals, pp. 139 - 144Publisher: FacetPrint publication year: 2022