Spanish Spoken Here by Todd Douglas Quesada

I remember reading this article when it was first published in American Libraries. In particular, I found myself agreeing completely with the authors viewpoint and being really offended by the opposing article on maintaining English only collections. From the many letters to the editor since then, I know I was not the only one to have that response. However, I think it is important for librarians to be aware that there are members of their community that will believe that the library should only contain English language books.

This article provides several arguments that could be used when confronted with the English only viewpoint. For example, Latino citizens "work, pay taxes, and are library users entitled to the same rights as any other American citizen" (p. 42). The current political focus on illegal immigration neglects the rights of the Spanish speaking American citizens and legal residents (p. 43). I also agree with the viewpoint that a public library is intended to serve all the public and that it is the librarian's responsibility to ensure that every community member has access to the resources they need.