registered with library cards”); and they were encouraged to get to know the city and visit cultural venues. Despite these positive developments, it is also worth noting, sadly, that Canada, like elsewhere in the world, is seeing an increase in racism, hate and intolerance, for example anti-Black racism, anti-Semi- tism, anti-Asian racism, Islamophobia.
IFLA’s role
And, just to note that the IFLA Section, Library Services to People with Special Needs, have finished consulting on their draft International Guidelines for Library Services to Displaced Populations (which cover “library service to refugees, immi- grants, migrants, and asylum seekers”), and the final version should be available shortly – keep up-to-date via
www.ifla.org/lsn.
The importance of understanding what is going on in the world … Finally, it is vital that we all keep up-to- date with world news, especially events that are likely to have an impact on people seeking sanctuary.
Whilst news about some countries is covered well by the UK media, others barely get mentioned (and, from my experience of running training courses, it is clear that library staff may not know what sorts of issues new arrivals from particular countries have faced – and, therefore, may not understand the
A Meet Try Learn session, run by the TSL Kirklees Migration Team (part of #kirklee- swelcomes) at Kirklees Library. Photo © TSL Migration Team
arrivals; access to technology – email, computers, high-speed internet, Wi-Fi, and training to use these. Vickery then focused on the welcome that Toronto and TPL had given to Syrian refugees – as she said: “Our goal was to support the Syrian refugees in their quest for access to information, opportunities to make a new life and connections to people and institutions they can trust.” (emphases hers)
Joining TPL was made as easy as possi- ble – social media (including a blog) were used to promote the welcome; in keep- ing with the City of Toronto’s Refugee Resettlement Program, TPL provided additional pre-arrival support for private sponsors with orientation sessions provid- ed for private sponsors in library branches (11 sessions were delivered with over 300 private sponsors attending); outreach and activities were used to reach new arrivals (“Many were temporarily located in hotels so we used our bookmobile to connect with refugees and distribute the books, and deliver programs such as story times in English and Arabic as well as get people
40 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
reactions of new arrivals when asked questions, or visit a large imposing building, for example).
In the workshop, we looked at the top five most common countries of nation- ality of people seeking asylum in the UK in 2020 – which were Iran, Iraq, Albania, Eritrea, and Sudan (in 2020, Syria was sixth and Afghanistan seventh – but, as I write this article, the grim news is breaking of the re-capture of Afghanistan by the Taliban, and this is clearly going to have a major impact on the numbers of people seeking sanctu- ary).
Reasons for leaving Iran, Iraq, Eritrea, and Sudan are clear, but Albania fea- tures much less in the news. Why are people seeking sanctuary from Albania? According to Esme Madill: “The country has a long history of clan violence, blood feuds and revenge killings, as well as political instability. Domestic abuse, so-called ‘honour-based’ violence, gen- der-based violence and child-specific persecution appear in many Albanian asylum claims. Albania is also a source country for one of the largest groups of trafficked women and children to reach the UK’s shores. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from Albania, who have been trafficked or who are fleeing violence, arrive in the UK each year, destitute, exhausted and trauma- tised.” (Madill, 20204
).
Get Online Newcastle works Your Homes Newcastle and Newcastle City Council to provide tablets and training for newly resettled families to provide Newcastle Library. Photo by Lisa Dawson, NCC/YHN Digital Inclusion Programme Coordinator
October-November 2021
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