Gathering Word Clouds of Language Data

As hubs for diverse communities, our Colorado public libraries are proud to serve people of many different backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, and nationalities. Newcomers to Colorado can benefit greatly from services offered at public libraries and contribute valuable ideas and perspectives to our communities. However, language barriers can create significant challenges to reaching these populations. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, languages other than English are spoken in around 16% of homes across Colorado, and close to 6% of Colorado residents speak English “less than very well”. Public libraries can welcome these segments of the population by finding ways to communicate with people in their preferred language.

Gathering the Data

In 2024, information on which languages are spoken by multilingual library staff, compensation for these language skills, and the languages in which library programs are conducted was gathered for the first time in the Public Library Annual Report (PLAR). Library Research Service (LRS) only adds questions to the PLAR if the responses would contribute meaningfully to our repository of information about Colorado public libraries. Language data meets this requirement by helping library staff learn which languages are used across the state and how libraries can break down language barriers…

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