Media Contact: Leanne Ingle, Communications Specialist, 704-4508; email: lingle@trlib.org.

The Olympia Timberland Library will host a new series of programs, "Talk Time/Charlas," from 6 to 8 p.m. every Tuesday from May 4 through June 15 (except May 25), offering English and Spanish speaking adults and their families an opportunity to practice and improve their English and Spanish language conversation skills in a relaxed atmosphere. The library offers this series of six programs in partnership with South Puget Sound Community College. The programs are free of charge. For more information or directions, people can call the library at (360) 352-0595.

Olympia Timberland Library presenta Talk Time/Charlas de 6-8 p.m., 4, 11 y 18 mayo, y 1, 8 y 15 junio para adultos que hablan inglés o español. Practique y mejore sus habilidades de conversación en inglés o español en una atmósfera relajada. Este programa es presentado en sociedad con South Puget Sound Community College.

"This is not a class. Level of skill is not important. There are no tests or evaluations. This is an opportunity to practice conversation skills in English or Spanish among new friends," said Selina Gomez-Beloz, the Timberland Regional Library (TRL) Diversity Librarian. Trained Talk Time volunteers, and some of the time a library staff person, will offer various situations/topics, such as food, going to a restaurant, movies, culture, etc. as conversation starters that participants can talk about as they like.

Children of all ages are welcome to join their parents and either converse or spend some time doing a children's activity. Each session is two hours long and a coin toss will determine whether Spanish or English is the first language used that evening. Depending on the success of the program and the needs of the community, the format or time may be changed slightly in the future.

"The library wants to reach the Latino community to demonstrate that the library can be used as a place to improve one's life skills and be a place where the whole family can learn new things and enjoy themselves," said Gomez-Beloz.

For the 2000 census, 4.5% of persons in Thurston County (9,392 individuals) listed themselves as Hispanic or Latino. After visiting various organizations throughout the county, Gomez-Beloz believes that many who stated they were of "two or more races" or "other race not listed" are Spanish speakers.

Talk Time is part of TRL’s Bibliotecas Para Todos (Libraries for Everyone) project, supervised by TRL Reference and Adult Services Coordinator, Liz Stroup. TRL received a one-year grant of $50,000 from

the Washington State Library in October 2003 to reach out to, and find ways to better serve, our growing Latino population. Four of the system’s larger libraries—the Olympia, Shelton, Aberdeen and Centralia Timberland libraries—have seen the most dramatic increases in the number of Spanish-speaking people in their communities. TRL hired Gomez-Beloz, a bi-lingual outreach librarian, to help Timberland conduct a needs assessment in each of these four communities, to help staff develop culturally appropriate programs and services, to select new Spanish language popular materials and to conduct training sessions for up to 100 TRL staff in library-focused Spanish.

Olympia Timberland Library staff recently joined in eight weeks of Spanish classes with staff from the library system’s central reference service and the Shelton, Centralia and Aberdeen Timberland libraries. In addition, Gomez-Beloz helped staff develop culturally appropriate programs and select new Spanish language books, videos, and other materials. The library system currently has about 4,700 items in Spanish available for borrowers.

Timberland Regional Library serves the information, reading, and lifelong learning needs of the public in Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties at 27 community libraries and 6 school-based cooperative library centers. For information on any subject, the public in Thurston County can telephone Timberland’s Central Reference Service librarians at 704-INFO (704-4636) or they can "Ask a Librarian" online at www.trlib.org. Anyone needing special accommodations to participate in a library’s program may contact the library 4 days in advance.