Language Learning Grant Spotlight: Steven S.

Did you know about the Massachusetts Library System (MLS) Language Learning Grant?

MLS member library staff are eligible to apply for a grant to help learn the languages spoken by their communities’ residents.

Visit the Language Learning Grant LibGuide to learn more and apply for a grant.

Today, we’re highlighting Forbes Library Processing & Services Assistant Steven S., who shares his experiences with the grant below.

The Language Learning Grant supports Initiative 1, Goal 3; Initiative 2, Goal 2; and Initiative 3, Goal 1 of the MLS Strategic Plan.

Steven S. – Forbes Library Processing & Services Assistant

My name is Steven S., and I work at Forbes Library in Northampton, Massachusetts. My formal title is Processing & Services Assistant, which, as with most public library positions, is woefully vague as to the range of my performance. On the other hand, it’s likely this ambiguity that allows me to test my professional boundaries and remain adaptable in the service of changing community needs.

I first applied for an MLS Language Learning Grant in March of 2023. Forbes Library administration had reached out to MLS on behalf of its staff after many members expressed interest in language learning as a training and development focus. The Language Learning Grant was then in its first round. Several of our staff applied and were awarded grants. It was an inspired moment to find our nascent intentions nearly instantly actionable and fully supported.

It would be difficult for me to express succinctly why I chose to pursue this grant opportunity. There are too many reasons, and I’m liable to wax poetic or into abstraction. Suffice it to say that I want dearly to provide as near-to-equitable as possible the service that I provide our community. Specifically, in this instance, I’d like to offset the burden and uncertainty of a new patron who might have both a pressing need and greater fluency in a language other than English.

As for my learning experience, I must first recognize that I’m very fortunate to be close to the International Language Institute (ILI) in Northampton. It’s not only physically close, but the mission, values, and patronage overlap with the library such that the services of one frequently augment those of the other. ILI also offers free English classes for immigrants and refugees! Win/win!

For these reasons, taking Spanish classes with ILI was not only convenient, but also an intrinsically rewarding choice. I’ve been advancing through their Spanish language course offerings these past two years. They offer many languages at many levels, from beginner to advanced. Their teachers are engaging, knowledgeable, and forgiving. More than would be true of a class taught by rote, I find my thirst for understanding deepening daily. I am encouraged to surpass myself, and oriented toward outstripping even the remotest horizons.

Each opportunity to incorporate Spanish into my patron interactions, I find that I’m still very shy about feeling inept with the use of it. Each exercise thus further deepens my care towards our patrons, who might have similar social anxieties when they approach a service desk.

Given how fundamental language is to our shared experience, I’ve found so much empathy in learning and using a new language. It’s an exciting challenge that I anticipate with each exchange. I’m using what I’ve gained from my studies to further my individual reach in meeting the needs of our community.

The Language Learning Grant offers access to the most practical, relevant, and far-reaching outcome one could hope to receive through career-related skill-development; one which a public library can do least without: it engenders the feeling that one belongs to a larger world and gains through language the ability to ensure that others feel that they, too, belong.

Libraries, by virtue of championing the limitlessness of ideas by attempting to provide unlimited access to them in a community setting, also champion a world without boundaries, where hope and understanding is fostered through learning and discourse.

If you at all suspect yourself to be a part of the world, despite any misgivings that that fact might provoke, then let the MLS Language Learning Grant be as an open door and an opportunity for you to improve it for yourself and others. It’s a blast!