In the effort to fulfill their mission of disseminating information, librarians
face a variety of challenges. Some of these challenges pertain to collection
development, technical services, cataloging backlogs, and the handling
of new technologies. Other challenges are related to legal issues and intellectual
freedom, such as material objections and Internet access. Library management
has dealt with these challenges for years by updating the technology, increasing
the staff, and educating employees and customers. Effective communication
poses a different and important challenge to librarians, especially to
reference librarians.The communication
between reference librarians and library customers is difficult to a point
that librarians need to use special communication tools to be able to deliver
the best service. The United States is one of the countries where librarians,
in general, and academic librarians, in particular, are more prone to deal
with multicultural customers. This can make their job even more difficult.
Does the communication in multicultural environments create a real problem
for libraries? Does the library management need to intervene in order to
solve these problems? Alternatively, should management leave this issue
to the individual librarians to educate themselves and overcome this challenge?
What is culture? The answers to this question reveals the complexity of
its meaning. Every field of knowledge has its own answer: philosophers,
anthropologists, historians, and economists have their own concepts of
culture. (Kluckhohn, 19) One suggested answer is: “The behavioral norms
that a group of people, at a certain time and place, have agreed upon to
survive and exist.” (Elashmawi, 50)The
culture of an individual is like a biological heredity. For the members
of one culture, culture allows them to predict each other’s behavior. It
gives them ready-made solutions for some problems that have been solved
before. (Kluckhohn, 25) An individual who belongs to a certain culture
does not have to be conscientious about the component of this culture.In
contrast, an individual from outside a culture has to know the components
of another culture to predict the behavior of its members. For practical
reasons, it is important to know the components of a culture to study the
multicultural similarities and differences. Culture is expressed by a variety
of human behaviors; the following list shows the most common ones. (Elashmawi,
50)
·Language
·Nonverbal
communication
·Space
and time orientations
·Religion
and belief system
·Patterns
of thinking
·Self-images
·Set
of values
·Material
culture
·Aesthetics
Different sectors of society
are interested differently in the components of culture. Diplomacy, business,
travel, education, science, and art choose to understand the components
that can help them succeed in their goals.
In a multicultural situation, the communication between two cultures is
not mathematically equal. This idea is well expressed by saying “The language
of the trade is the language spoken by the customer.” (Engholm 98) In the
communication between two cultures, knowing who is the buyer and who is
the seller, or who is server and who is the customer, tells a lot about
who carries the burden of understanding the other culture.
Nations have come with sets of rules to overcome the differences between
cultures. The misunderstanding of these differences, historically, has
jeopardized the peace between nations. These set of rules are called protocols.
They constitute a common ground where nations can formally communicate
without mistakes that can result in disrespect or ridicule. (Radlovic)
In the relations between nations, formality is a safe ground, while informality
is a dangerous ground. The famous phrase, “Ich bin ein Berliner”, that
president John Kennedy said, in a speech to German masses, turned out to
be “I’m a doughnut” instead of“I’m
from Berlin.” (Bartlett 742) If the diplomatic sector tends to be more
formal in multicultural relations, the business sector tends to be less
formal, which makes the multicultural relations more difficult.
In business, regular people, who are mostly unprepared for cultural differences,
find themselves in unpredictable situations. Many books have been published
to explain the different cultures in the world. The information found in
these books can make the difference between gaining or loosing a business
opportunity with a different culture. The expression “Etiquette edge” refers
to the edge that businesses can have over their competitors by knowing
details about the culture with which they are dealing. (Engholm 10) Business
relations are too complex. They are many to many relations. Business people
have to know most of the components of a culture: spoken language, body
language, space and time orientations, and sets of values. Like businesses,
libraries rely on communication to fulfill their missions.
Librarians serve different groups in society. The Library, as a server,
assumes the burden of understanding the customers. Librarians take the
responsibility of facilitating the communication with the customers: children,
elders, and the visually and hearing impaired. In a multicultural situation,
they have the duty to do the same. K Sardkidie-Mensah (1992) expresses
the difficulty of doing this: “I have seen American librarians literally
tremble as foreign students approach the service desk. Many shiver at the
thought of not being able to understand students from other cultures, especially
those from non-European or non-Western cultures.” If the Libraries’ management
agrees with this observation, multicultural education for librarians would
make sense.
There is an important difference between the diplomatic and business sectors,
and libraries. It is very unlikely that a customer comes to a library and
starts speaking in a non-English language. In business and diplomacy, interpreters
are sometimes used for verbal communications. The communication problems
that librarians can face are a multitude of spoken English blended with
foreign languages. Some of the difficulties in verbal and non-verbal language
are categorized as follows:
Pronunciation:
Languages do not have the same letters and speakers try to substitute a
letter with the closest letter in their language. Russian language does
not have “h” so any “h” in English will be substituted with “x” and pronounced
as “kh” like the “ch” in German. In Arabic, there is no “p”; it is substituted
with “b” so “problem” is pronounced “broblem”. (Sardkidie-Mensah 2) Another
factor that creates wrong pronunciation is the stress on a syllable of
the word that can make it difficult to understand. A French speaking person
pronounces the word balance as “balance.”
Words mix-up:
A person who is speaking English as a second language will translate many
words in the process. The word can be completely wrong or misplaced with
a word with the same sound. Misplacing prepositions after verbs is common
in this category.“look to” could
be a substitution for “look at” and “speaking with a language” can be a
substitute for “speaking in a language.”
Confusing expressions:
If translating words could be a problem, translating a phrase could become
a catastrophe. The phase: “ You did not call for a long time, I hope for
good!” The person meant, “for good reason.” Literal translation can produce
very unpredictable meaning that can lead to laughter or distrust.
Body language:
All cultures use body language. Some use it more than others. The problem
that body language creates in communication happens when two contradictory
meanings reflect a body movement. For instance, in Bulgaria, a nod means
“no” and a shake of the head means, “yes”. (Axtel 1995)
Library management has to prepare a special methodology, if it decides
to confront the issue of multiculturalism in public and academic libraries.
This methodology should rely on the most important cultural components
mentioned earlier. Unlike diplomats or business people, librarians don’t
have to meet people in their countries, eat their food and be aware of
their customs. It is more important for librarians to know how they speak
English, their body language, and their pattern of thinking. A multicultural
book studied a wide variety of cultures and included an important paragraph
for each culture and called it “Cognitive style: How ……organize and process
information.” (Morrison 1994). This deserves elaboration in. knowing how
different cultures process information can be a interdisciplinary field
between cognitive psychology, sociology, and information science. Librarians
will profit from this field by learning to communicate in multicultural
environment for the sake of disseminating information, the core of their
profession. Librarians need to know some tips when dealing with other cultures.
If the librarian does not understand the customer, this does not mean that
the customer reciprocally does not understand the librarian.
Dealing with multiculturalism can cost the library management time, effort,
and money. Nevertheless, the problem appears to be bigger than it really
is. Librarians don’t have to read all the publications that deal with multiculturalism.
Learning many languages is good, but not necessary. In public libraries,
community assessment can help the decision of what language some librarians
ought to know. Librarians should be trained where it is needed, to be confident
when communicating with people from diverse cultures. In the age of the
Internet, a good website with a dynamic database about the issues of language
and multiculturalism could be a good solution. If libraries sponsor this
kind of project, it will be cost effective.
References
Axtell,
R. E. (1995). Do's and taboos around the world. New York: John Wiley
and Sons, Inc.
Bartlett,
J., & Kaplan, J. (1992). Bartlett's familiar quotations (16th
ed.). Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Elashmawi,
F., & Harris, P. R. (1993). Multicultural management: New skills
for global support. Huston: Gulf Publishing Company.
Engholm,
C. (1991). When business east meets business west. New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Kluckhuhn,
C. (1962). Culture and behavior. New York: The Free Press.
Morrison,
T., Conaway, W. A., & Borden, G. A. (1994). Kiss, bow, or shake
hands. Holbrook: Bob Adams, Inc.
Radlovic,
M. (1956). Etiquette & protocol. New York: Harcourt, Brace &
World, Inc.
Sarkodie-Mensah,
K. (1992). Dealing with international students in a multicultural era.
Journal
of Academic Librarianship, 18(4), 214-216.