#28: Some information is better than none →

Unfortunately, this tip is more from the ‘things I failed to do’ rather than the ‘things I managed to do’ list. When I worked at the Dallas Public Library, I managed a branch where approximately two-thirds of the household in its immediate neighborhood spoke Spanish at home. Very little of the system-wide communications were ever put out in Spanish. We had monthly meetings of all the branch managers, and it felt like every month the administrative or communications team would announce some new thing, I or a colleague at another Spanish-dominant branch would ask “Is this going to be available in Spanish?” and the answer would be no.

Something that was particularly frustrating was when existing inaccessibility was cited as reason something hadn’t been translated—think, “Most of our website is only in English, so if people only read Spanish they aren’t going to make it to this page in the first place.” But the more common reason was “Our translator/bilingual staff/web design people/social media team don’t have time for this because we have other priorities.” The idea seemed to be that since there ‘wasn’t time’ (this is arguable) to do a fully equivalent, word-for-word translation and set it up in its own online context, it couldn’t be done at all. The option of doing a basic, more simplified version was rejected before being considered.

My colleagues and I at the branch didn’t have much control over the library’s web presence as a whole, but we did add descriptions to our programs in the library’s online calendar. We often had a bilingual staff person include a Spanish version, and when we didn’t, we simply added the line “For more information, please call [library phone number]” in Spanish: “Para más información, favor de llamar a [library phone #].” At least that way, a motivated reader knew they could call us and talk to someone in Spanish to get the information.

Sometimes I wrote those blurbs myself, even though I am far from fluent. I know I made mistakes, and when my fluent coworkers had a chance to review my translations, they often changed a lot. It was hard to put myself out there and worry that I was embarrassing myself and the library by putting out something ‘wrong.’ Librarians tend to pride ourselves on accuracy. I had to remind myself that we also pride ourselves on access, and that my potentially hurt pride wasn’t a good excuse for making something inaccessible to many of my library’s patrons. I still often fail in that regard, but I’m less of a perfectionist than I was.