A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.
- Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist, Philanthropist, Immigrant
What first drew me to Aberdeen was the surprising amount of diversity for such a small, close-knit community. Aberdeen has these wonderful places like the Karen Asian Market on Congress Street (the only place where I can find shallots!), the African Grocery Mandeeq, and Dulce’s Hispanic Store, both of which are located on Sixth Avenue. I knew when I applied to be the Director of K.O. Lee Aberdeen Public Library that I could not just live, but live well, in Aberdeen.
This coming year, Aberdeen’s public library is looking to gain more of an audience by creating several different programs and classes, as well as adding more resources and materials, all aimed at the community’s immigrant residents.
This effort isn’t just about creating lifelong library users (although that would be nice, too!). It’s also about helping to weave these often-siloed communities into the fabric of Aberdeen itself. To help them take ownership of their adopted home.
If Aberdeen is enriching, it’s enriching due to the diversity that’s bloomed here over the past several years, benefiting from the addition of Karen, Somali, and Hispanic immigrants (as well as others) to our community. Okay, yes, we’re not the Cities, but we’re not Mayberry either and that’s a good thing. If we want Aberdeen to grow and progress, inclusion is essential.
At K.O. Lee Library we’re doing our part by trying to offer educational, cultural, and entertainment opportunities aimed at opening peoples’ minds to other lives. By doing this, we’re creating stronger connections between community members. I want the library to be a space that caters to the entire community, all 38,000 Brown County residents and then some, but this can’t be accomplished if the library doesn’t recognize the diversity of different peoples’ needs.
I’m very lucky that the framework for creating such a space was already in place when I arrived in Aberdeen. Years before, the library (which had just opened) conceived of something called The A Place. According to records, The A Place was meant as a “concept which allows the library to provide materials, technology, programs, referrals, information and other services to those who are new to the area, with an emphasis on individuals who have recently arrived in the United States.”
And then COVID happened.
The A Place concept, along with so many other things, went on the backburner while the library worked hard just to get through the pandemic. I have wanted to bring The A Place back to the forefront almost since my arrival, and recently, I’m proud to say, the library was awarded $13,000 from the South Dakota Community Foundation to make The A Place concept into a reality.
Our first foray is a family event planned for the evening of January 4, where we’ll put on a food-centric celebration in honor of Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes), a significant holiday throughout various Hispanic cultures. As is tradition, children will decorate shoeboxes to place under their beds, under the Christmas tree, or in a place that is not easy to miss, so the Three Kings can leave them presents! We’ll also be starting a monthly story time in Spanish, hosting the Somali Museum of Minnesota’s dance troupe in April, following Eid al-Fitr, and in June we plan to have a concert by the Minneapolis-based band Salsa del Soul. We also have plans to increase the library’s section of foreign language books, as well as add a bi-lingual basic computer skills class.
If we want the library, and Aberdeen as a whole, to grow and thrive, then it’s essential that we adapt. We need to learn to meet people where they are. We need to recognize and celebrate where they come from, and help them feel included in their new home.
Got an idea for a cultural program? A book recommendation for our foreign language collection? Want to help out or become a patron? Contact Anna Lillian Moser at anna.moser@aberdeen.sd.us or Melvin Maldonado at melvin.maldonado@aberdeen.sd.us.
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