Chinese language books will be on shelf at Powell River Public Library in the New Year. According to chief librarian Terry Noreault, the decision to stock about 200 Chinese language books will make the library a more welcoming place for newcomers to Powell River.
“I think what drove me first was seeing businesses being purchased by Chinese in Powell River,” said Noreault, “and seeing more immigrants from China here.”
Noreault said he started working on ordering Chinese language books for the library three weeks ago, after placing an interlibrary loan for a Chinese copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul.
“We want to bring in books that focus on helping newcomers learn about Canada, and adapt and prosper here,” said Noreault.
With no Chinese-language readers working at the library, librarians had a large learning curve.
“Chinese is interesting, there are several dialects like Mandarin and Cantonese and while they don’t sound the same they both use the same written language,” said Noreault.
As the majority of Chinese newcomers are coming to Powell River from the People’s Republic of China, Noreault said library staff decided to order books in the simplified Chinese, which features fewer calligraphic strokes than the traditional written Chinese used in Taiwan or Singapore.
Library adult services coordinator Mark Merlino said without online translations ordering books for the library in another language would be very difficult.
“Even 10 or 20 years ago it would be impossible to carry out a project like this,” said Merlino. “Having the ability to translate everything online has streamlined the whole process and makes it easier than ever to find books in any language.”
According to Merlino, having a collection of Chinese language books is rare for rural library.
“The further away you get from the Lower Mainland, the rarer it would be that you would have a collection of more than 100 books,” said Merlino.
Rural libraries with Chinese language books in BC include Squamish and the Fraser Valley. Currently no other library on the Sunshine Coast carries Chinese books.
Margaret Hodgins, chief librarian of Sechelt Public Library, said they are continually monitoring interlibrary loan requests for growing trends in foreign-language requests.
“We haven’t seen an influx of that demographic moving into Sechelt for the moment, so we don’t stock any Chinese books here,” said Hodgins, “but if we see an increase in interlibrary loan requests we will certainly have to examine that position.”
Although Powell River’s library carries a collection of French-language books for children and adults, they do not carry stocks of books in other languages, such as Italian, said Noreault.
“We recently had a workshop with the [Powell River] Italian Club teaching them how to order books in Italian using interlibrary loans,” said Noreault. “Most can already speak English and navigate the library system, so this way is working.”
According to Noreault, as Chinese-language speakers use a different written system, there is more of a need for books in that language to be stocked here.
“We are going to see more people here whose predominant language is Chinese,” he said. “Having the books here will be more useful for them.”
Orders are now being placed for the approximately 200 books at a cost of about $20 each and they should be arriving in January, said Noreault.
For more information, or to place an order for specific Chinese-language books, readers can contact the library at 604.485.4796.
