Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Libraries, Immigrants, and the American Experience

Libraries, Immigrants, and the American Experience

Jones, Plummer A.

Hardcover

Series: Contributions in Librarianship and Information Science, Book 92

General ReferenceGeneral Law

ISBN10: 0313307695
ISBN13: 9780313307690
Publisher: Praeger
Published: Jan 30 1999
Pages: 256
Weight: 1.13
Height: 0.94 Width: 5.96 Depth: 9.26
Language: English

From 1876 to 1924--a period of free immigration--the mission of the American public library in its work with immigrants was to Americanize the immigrants by teaching them English and preparing them for citizenship. From 1924 to 1948--a period of restricted immigration--the mission of the American public library in its work with immigrants was to educate the adult immigrant and to internationalize the American community. Together, the public library and the immigrant community have shaped and perpetuated the national understanding of the value of ethnicity and internationalism to American society. The American public librarians took on the roles of advocates for immigrant rights, social workers, propagandists for the American way, and educators.

At the end of the twentieth century, as at the beginning, Americans are still debating the place of immigrants in American society. Public librarians are now as they were then, going about their duties and responsibilities of providing advice and materials to help immigrants, legal and illegal, cope with everyday life in America. The American public library has remained a sovereign alchemist, turning the base metal of immigrant potentialities into the gold of American realities.

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