According to statistical studies conducted by both the Cervantes Institute of New York City and the U.S. Census Bureau, there will be 132,000,000 Spanish-speaking inhabitants in the United States by the year 2050. Making the United States, the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico. From a population point of view, the United States will be the largest Latin American nation surpassing current birth rates in both Mexico and Peru. In terms of language learning, Spanish language matriculation rates at the secondary, high school and university levels are at their highest. In terms of library usage, the numbers are growing as Latinos and the Spanish speaking are learning more and more how to use libraries . With this in mind, REFORMA has finally established its' first chapter in the Sacramento area precisely to help the area's libraries in improving library services to the Spanish speaking and Spanish language collections.
The chapter is aptly called the California Gold: The Sacramento Valley Chapter of REFORMA
California Gold: The Sacramento Valley Chapter of REFORMA supports the following goals:
. Development of Spanish- language and Latino- oriented collections and programming
. Recruitment of bilingual, multicultural library personnel
. Promotion of public awareness of libraries and librarianship among Latinos
. Advocacy on behalf of the information needs of the Latino community
.Liaison to other professional communities (CLA, EMIERT, SLALM for example)
.Providing training, education for our members and those interested in serving Latinos
and Spanish Speakers.
The California Gold Chapter will be meeting soon ,so dates and times will be forthcoming. A Facebook and website will also be available so stay tuned!
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