Serving Library Users from Asia

Asian populations are among some of the fastest growing cultural groups in the US. While books on serving other target groups in libraries have been published (e.g., disabled, Latino, seniors, etc.), few books on serving library users of Asian heritage have been written. Thus the timely need for this book. Rather than a generalized overview of Asians as a whole, this book has 24 separate chapters--each on 24 specific Asian countries/cultures of East, Southeast, and South Asia--with a wealth of resources for understanding, interacting with, outreaching to, and serving library users of each culture. Resources include cultural guides (both print and online), language helps (with sample library vocabulary), Asian booksellers, nationwide cultural groups, professional literature, and more. Resources and suggestions are given for all three types of libraries--public, school, and academic--making this book valuable for all librarians. The demographics of each Asian culture (numbers and distribution)--plus history of immigration and international student enrollment--is also featured. As a bonus, each chapter spotlights a US public, school, and academic library providing model outreach to Asian library users. Additionally, this book provides a detailed description and analysis of libraries in each of the 24 Asian countries. The history, development, facilities, conditions, technology, classification systems, and more--of public, school, and academic libraries--are all discussed, with detailed documentation. Country conditions influencing libraries and library use are also described: literacy levels, reading cultures, languages and writing systems, educational systems, and more. Based on the author's 15 years of research and travels to Asia, this work is a must-have for all librarians.
About the Author: John Hickok is library faculty and the International Outreach Librarian at California State University Fullerton, outreaching to and instructing international students for over 20 years. He holds a MLIS from UCLA, and a MA-TESOL (Teaching English to Speaker of Other Languages) from Cal State LA. John's research area is library outreach to international populations and comparisons of library services between Asia and the US. He has written book chapters, journal articles, and presented (in both the US and Asia) on this. John was the 2016 Chair of ALA's International Relations Roundtable, and was a 2016 Fulbright Scholar, teaching LIS in Asia (Philippines).