Examining a Spanish nonfiction collection in a public library

Many areas of the country have seen large growth in their Spanish speaking community. Libraries and other public agencies have redesigned their practices to better serve the needs of these new segments of the population. The urban area chosen for this study has experienced one of the fastest growing Spanish speaking populations in the country in the last 10 years. In this study, a needs assessment was created for the Spanish speaking population served by a branch library in a large, urban area. The needs assessment was created with the use of demographic data and an analysis of current library literature. Using the assessment, the current Spanish nonfiction collection of the library was evaluated for both size and content and then compared to the size and content of the English nonfiction collection. This assessment technique is useful to libraries wishing to conduct a needs analysis on a specific group in their population served.