That\u2019s a big deal for a small town library like Postville, which has a population of only about 2,500 people. <\/span>The Postville librarians know their small community well, such as the Kosher meat packing plant that brings in workers from many different backgrounds, including many Somali immigrants.<\/p>\n What better resource for that community than the English language courses in Transparent Language Online for Libraries?<\/p>\n To get them started, the library brought in a Somali speaker to train them on the technology in their own language. That effort proved so successful the library wanted to replicate it on a larger scale, so they reached out to us and requested we translate our Transparent Language Online User Guide into Somali.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a joy for us to help libraries bring language learning to their diverse communities, so of course we said yes! (Or should we say \u201chaa!\u201d)<\/p>\n Postville Public Library Director, Cindy Berns, expressed how much these materials and this resource means to the community:<\/p>\n “Our Somali patrons are a valued part of our community. They’re very eager to learn and improve their English, so I am thrilled to have a service like Transparent Language Online to offer them. Being able to teach them how to use the platform and provide help materials in their native language has made a huge difference in getting them off to a good start!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The results are staggering: the library has seen a 6x increase in the number of learners contributing to a 20x increase in total learning hours!<\/strong><\/p>\n A fitting result for the library in a town whose motto is \u201cHometown to the World.\u201d ?<\/p>\n Library subscribers, if you’re looking for inspiration and materials to help promote Transparent Language Online to your community, check out the Library Marketing Kit<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Promoting library resources can sometimes feel like shouting to the void. But as a librarian, you know your community better than anyone. Give that void a face. Postville Public Library in Iowa did exactly that and achieved 6x growth in their users in 2021. In fact, Postville Public Library had the highest monthly usage among…<\/p>\n![\"Postville](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/postville-library-3-1024x509.jpg\")
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