Costa Mesa’s Donald Dungan Library takes bilingual approach to community services
Every Thursday morning, the headline act at Costa Mesa’s Donald Dungan Library mixes dancing and a bubble machine with education in basic Spanish and English language skills.
Bilingual Storytime aims to entertain while it reinforces preschool-age children’s literacy skills. It started once a month in 2016, and as attendance grew, the library began to offer the event once a week in 2018. It continues to draw the largest weekly crowd at the library’s new facility at 1855 Park Ave. in Lions Park.
The Dungan Library’s new two-story, 23,615-square-foot building opened in May after the library previously occupied an 8,740-square-foot structure built in 1986. Costa Mesa owns the new building, while OC Public Libraries provides it with resources and services.
The latest Bilingual Storytime focused on colors and started with “De Colores,” a children’s song known across Spanish-speaking countries. Two librarians, Liana Lujan and Rosalba Rivera, took turns reading the children’s book “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” in both Spanish and English.
“Some nannies come in and expose the kids to different languages,” Lujan said.
Rosa Anguiano, a nanny to a 3-year-old who speaks more Spanish than English, said she attends every week to give the child an activity since she doesn’t yet go to school.
Another caretaker said she started taking kids to the event last year. Their primary language is English, she said, though they understand some Spanish.
Costa Mesa’s Mesa Verde Library branch at 2969 Mesa Verde Drive offers a similar Bilingual Storytime.
“All library branches offer specific programming. ... In this case, staff with the needed language skills were hired and trained to be able to provide these programs to the community,” said David Lopez, marketing and communications librarian for OC Public Libraries. “Often, trained staff members may also provide programming across different branches in the library system to help meet community needs.”
Costa Mesa’s population is about one-third Hispanic or Latino, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau as of July 1.
Dungan Library assistant Leticia Monsivais said she noticed various adult book clubs in Costa Mesa but none that was Spanish-speaking. She recommended that the library form a Club de Lectura after hearing from a middle-aged patron who missed discussing books in Spanish with her father. The club began in October.
“We’ve studied our demographics, formed relationships with our local schools and community partners, and this data is useful as we work to offer a variety of programs to appeal to patrons of all ages in our community,” said Dungan librarian Kristina Jones.
Partnerships include working with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to offer free lunches to anyone 18 or younger during a six-week period in the summer. Youths can go to the library for a meal and stay for the programming.
Patrons can suggest ideas as well. Jones said several people mentioned that they couldn’t find free homework help in the community for their children. The library worked to create the Homework Help Center for kindergartners through fifth-graders twice a week.
“With our beautiful new building, which is three times as large as the previous library, we have the space to provide the programming that we’ve always wanted to,” Jones said.
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