Relationship between Latinos and Public Libraries.

Los Angeles: TRPI, in partnership with WebJunction and OCLC surveyed more than 2,860 Latinos in six U.S. states about their library use and perceptions of libraries. The results indicate that 54 percent of the Latino population visited libraries in the past year, and that Latinos hold positive perceptions of libraries.

Other findings:

• Latino library visits are affected by demographic factors, as is the case for the population at large.

• Library-use differences exist among foreign-born, second-generation and third-generation Latinos. However, these differences are due to demographic differences in age, education and income among these groups.

• Although Spanish-language materials are of Importance to Latinos, their perceptions of staff service are a stronger factor in terms of increasing visits than Spanish-language materials.

• The more fluent a person is in English, the more likely he or she is to have visited the library and accessed its services.

• Availability of resources including computer access, information on jobs and general information influence library visits.

To view report CLICK on link below (Adobe Acrobat Reader required):
http://www.trpi.org/PDFs/Latinos_&_Public_Library_Perceptions_Final.pdf>