The Ansonia Public Library has received a $5,000 grant from the Katharine Matthies Foundation to add to its foreign language offerings.
The library already has a small collection of foreign language books for adults and children.
The grant money will help the library add to the collection with books written in several languages, including Spanish, Polish and Albanian, according to Library Director Joyce Ceccarelli.
“(The collection is) not large, but it’s very popular,” Ceccarelli said.
Ceccarelli wasn’t sure exactly how many books the grant would allow the library to purchase, as children, adult and audio books vary in price. The focus will be to build the children’s foreign-language library, Ceccarelli said.
Ceccarelli points to a 2007 study conducted by the Ansonia Public School system, that indicates more than 200 of the city’s students speak two languages.
The most popular second languages — in addition to English — are Spanish, Polish and Albanian, the study said.
According to the Ansonia schools study:
- 145 students also spoke Spanish
- 44 students also spoke Polish
- 19 students also spoke Albanian
- The remaining students in the study spoke various other languages.
“We realized that there is a need,” Ceccarelli said. “It’s really the responsibility of libraries to provide equitable material for all people.”
A Start
The Spanish-langauge library collection is the largest in Ansonia right now, thanks to efforts by city resident Michael Soberany.
Soberany, the chairman of the Ansonia Cultural Commission, has been collecting money on his own to get more foreign language books in the library, with hopes that families that don’t speak English will still foster a love of reading in their children.
Soberany, who is fluent in both English and Spanish, started a Spanish reading hour at the library last fall. (Read more about the story hour and Soberany’s efforts in a past article.)
“The grant is a step forward for us,” Soberany said. “This promotes literature and culture.”
The library is looking for native speakers of Polish and Albanian to start similar story-hours for children in those two languages.
The library will begin advertising its growing foreign language offerings when the grant itself is received.
The shelves will have labels thanking the Matthies Foundation for its contribution.
