Kate Nafz, Fair Lawn Public Library
(201) 796-3400 x6 kate.nafz@fairlawn.bccls.org
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Benefits to bilingual story time o Outreach to newcomers within your community welcoming them into the library and introducing library resources. o Presenting stories to children who speak other languages books and songs in their native tongue o Educate and expose primarily English speaking children to another language o Offer cultural programs to the greater community o Help people find each other who share a common heritage
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Languages offered by the Fair Lawn Library over the years: o Hebrew o Russian o Spanish o Hindi
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Do you need to know another language to host bilingual story time? No, you need to be in the room and handling the publicity, etc. Staff members, local cultural schools, and parent volunteers are all options for presenters.
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Where do we get our materials in other languages? Donations, loans from other libraries, presenter’s personal collections, and purchase. Simple felt board stories (ex:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear) can be easily adapted to other languages.
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How often is it offered? We have always offered the program monthly. We try to get registration only because then we roughly know how many people to expect. This is especially helpful when including a craft.
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Ages of participants? Generally we aim the program at preschool children, but we have had all ages and abilities attend.
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How do we advertise? In-house fliers in both English backed with the target language, as well as posters, website, and local paper.
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What is the format of the program? The same as a traditional English speaking story time. Three stories infused with finger-plays, songs, puppets, and felt board stories.

Sometimes we offer a craft, but not always. It depends on the presenter. I work with the presenter on format and ideas.
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Is it limited to residents? Unlike other library programs, we do not enforce a residency rule with bilingual story time.
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Sources for obtaining materials o Russian House: www.russianpublishinghouse.com
Source for purchasing books and movies in Russian o Multicultural Books and Videos: www.multiculturalbboksandvideos.com
Source for purchasing Hindi materials, as well as materials in other languages. o School Library Journal regularly prints a column called Libro por Libro which focuses on Spanish language collection development and story times. They also review books in Spanish. This month’s edition (September, 2015) has an excellent article of Spanish purchasing sources. o Some books in different languages can be ordered through Baker and Taylor
(especially Spanish). Hindi is not available, although all the other languages we support are. o Books in other languages can be borrowed through JerseyCat, as well as your local library consortium.