A Look Back on "Wiedza to Potega"

The Portage-Cragin Branch is one of 79 branches of the Chicago Public Library, located on the far northwest side of the city. It is nestled along busy and bustling Belmont Avenue among shops, restaurants, stores, businesses, schools and medical centers. The branch service boundaries encompass the communities of Belmont-Cragin, Hermosa and Portage Park.

These communities have grown from marshy prairies and Indian portages to almost quiet suburban-like areas within a large city. Expansion throughout the area has been widespread. It has included housing, commerce, industry, professional services, schools and a variety of churches. These established ethnic communities have historically welcomed new immigrants looking for affordable housing, job opportunities, accessible transportation and good schools.

Since the 1970s, the metropolitan Chicago area has boasted the largest Polish community outside the city of Warsaw, Poland. The Chicago Public Library is keenly aware of the importance of the ethnic population of the city and has maintained a large Foreign Language Department at the main library.

Throughout the 1980s, the struggle between Poland's Communist regime and the newly established Solidarity Organization caused the demand for greater political freedom and economic improvements. Political persecutions led to the first large wave of Polish migration since World War II. The effects of this situation in Eastern Europe were felt as far away as Chicago.

At our branch, the demand for materials in Polish continued to grow along with the number of new immigrants. A small grant, "Linking the Ethnic Origins," from the Joyce Foundation helped establish a small Polish Language Collection at the branch. With the help of a Polish-speaking librarian, the branch began to seek visibility within the Polish community.

By 1987 the United States government had looked at the numbers of immigrants and began an amnesty campaign, allowing them to become permanent residents. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, the population of our service area had increased dramatically with the Polish-speaking population in our community jumping more than 40 percent in the last decade.

Family-owned businesses, banks, restaurants and shops that had done business within the community area for more than 50 years, now display signs that read "Mowimy po polsku" ("We speak Polish."). New services and programs were demanded by the residents. These included bilingual Polish programs, Polish Saturday schools, English as a Second Language programs and Polish ethnic programs.

The branch continued to establish itself within the Polish community and created a high level of visibility through community outreach, including programming and public relations. All press releases were now released in both English and Polish. Our Polish librarian was asked to speak about library service on various Polish radio programs. Reference calls came from across the country. Our Polish collection was expanded to 1,000 volumes with the help of 500 books from Chicago Public Library's Foreign Languages Department. Still, this could not meet the needs of our evergrowing population.

The Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) from the Illinois Secretary of State's Office opened a window of opportunity. With help from various Polish organizations, we began to study our needs and those of our community. After analyzing the data, we saw our need as two-fold — establishing an information center to help with reference and referrals and new materials to expand our shrinking collection.

"WIEDZA TO POTEGA: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER" was funded by an LSCA grant of $158,000 through the Illinois State Library in July 1992. The goals of the grant were to:

• provide materials, programs and services that reflect the needs and interests of the Polish population;

• improve public awareness of the availability of services and materials, and

• develop partnerships with other community organizations in the Polish community.

* Carol A. Tarsitano, Branch Head/Project Director, Portage-Cragin Branch, The Chicago Public Library.

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POLISH INFORMATION CENTER

After the announcement of the grant, our first task was to search for two individuals to staff our newly created Polish Information Center. Joanna Borowiec, the head of the Polish Welfare Association Resource Center, was a professional librarian and fluent in Polish and English. Eve Rydel, who was also bilingual, filled the clerical position at the Center.

The branch gave up one long and narrow room that had been currently used only for storage. With a fresh coat of paint and the addition of several desks, the room converted into the new home for the Center.

The Polish Information Center's first days were filled contacting the various Polish organizations and compiling information for referrals. A new computer and software with Polish fonts were ordered for the Center.

With the installation of the toll-free telephone line, the Center was ready for business. The staff decided to leave nothing to change and launched an extensive publicity campaign. Bilingual flyers were mailed and distributed throughout the community. Press releases were sent to every Polish newspaper, magazine, newsletter, church bulletin, etc. within the Chicago area. Announcements also were sent to all Polish media.

On its first day of operation, the Polish Information Center answered more than 100 questions and made 25 referrals to other Polish agencies. Throughout the Center's existence, questions dealt with a variety of Polish topics such as history, literature, customs, holidays, the Polish Constitution, famous Poles, science, Nobel Prize winners and sports.

One frantic mother called us from Cleveland, Ohio looking for information on Casimir Pulaski. Her son had to do a 10-page report on the Revolutionary War hero and why he was so important to our country's history. She called a number of libraries around her area without success. A friend suggested that she call the Polish Consulate's Office in Chicago who, in turn, referred her to the Polish Information Center. The Center's staff photocopied material and sent her the information the next day. Two weeks later, we received a lovely note from the son and mother thanking us for our assistance.

Inquiries and referrals covered a vast array of subjects. Some asked for advice on relocating to the suburbs or other established Polish communities in the United States. Many asked about bilingual Polish programs in the Chicago Public Schools.

Even the mail brought requests. One man from Texas even wrote to us asking to help him find a Polish spouse. Another letter came from Poland with our book pocket and date due card enclosed. The man informed us that he had purchased a copy of one of Milosz's works on the black market in Krakow, Poland. He regretted that he could not return the book to us since it had cost him a week's salary.

One of the goals of the grant was to form new partnerships with various Polish organizations. The information that the Polish Information Center compiled on the various organizations was used to produce two directories. The Directory of Polish Collections in Illinois listed 28 Illinois libraries and 11 Chicago Public Library branches that maintained Polish collections. The Directory of Polish Organizations listed agencies in alphabetical order with a detailed description of their scope and function. These directories were made available to all agencies, that participated in the surveys or later requested them.

The next step was the acquisition of materials in the Polish language. Chicago had a wealth of sources available. Globe International Ltd. offered an array of current fiction and non-fiction titles in Polish. Our greatest finds were "Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley and "Interview with a Vampire" by Anne Rice. While boxing our purchases, Joanna and I noticed a display of Harlequin romances in Polish so we quickly packed them up with our other purchases. Our Acquisitions Department was able to obtain a standing order with Polania Book Store located near the branch to supply our orders of Harlequins.

The cataloging and processing of the new materials allowed the books to be ready for circulation by fall 1992. The books were so popular that we soon had to reconfigure the area housing them. Reserves were now the norm for many of our Polish titles. Popular titles included: "Scarlett," "Gone With The Wind," "Princess Daisy," "Jewels," "Master of the Game," "East of Eden," "Interview with a Vampire," "Quo Vadis," "Potop," "Pan Wolodyjowski," "Ogniem I Mieczem," and any volumes by Marcel Proust.

British mysteries and espionage books also were in constant demand. One woman told a staff member that she had learned English by reading Danielle Steel. The greatest surprise was the popularity of the Polish

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Harlequins. No space has ever been designated to shelve these books because they never seem to stay in the library for long.

Programming played another important role in the grant. March 2,1993 was celebrated as Pulaski Day in honor of the slain Polish patriot Casimir Pulaski. Students from Foreman High School and Falconer Elementary School attended a program that included poetry, stories and a video on Pulaski. In honor of National Library Week, the Polish Information Center held a "Polish Book Day" on April 24, 1993. The day included branch tours, displays of new Polish books and a showing of "Casimir Pulaski: Hero of Two Nations." On May 15,1993, the branch marked the commemoration of Polish Constitution Day, which is celebrated in Poland on May 3. In June the branch held an open house to celebrate the grant and its success. The event was well attended by various dignitaries of the Polish organizations, Chicago Public Library and administration, as well as teachers, students and members of the community.

The staff of the Polish Information Center was also asked to attend the International Children's Book Festival on April 22,1993 at the Thompson Building. The booth was visited by 127 people throughout the day.

WIEDZA TO POTEGA impacted branch service with tremendous results. Portage-Cragin circulated 75 percent of all Polish materials within the Chicago Public Library System for 1992-93. The circulation for the first half of 1993 was 15,759. As a result, the grant exceeded its goal to increase circulation by five percent. Patron usage climbed while the most notable increase was in non-resident borrowers. This was a phrase seldom used at the branch, but these numbers tripled.

The Polish collection was expanded from 500 volumes to more than 4,000 volumes and 200 videos. Every Polish radio and television station had daily public service announcements listing our services and programs. Film clips of our programs were aired on PolVision regularly. We were so frequently advertised everywhere that we became known as "The Polish Branch." One patron told us that our phone number within the Polish community is more popular than Empire Carpet Company.

Although the WIEDZA TO POTEGA grant lasted only one year, its spirit and philosophy lives on within the various communities of the city, state and nation. The main telephone line still rings with inquiries from across the country asking for information about good schools, where to get scholarships, asking for a Polish librarian, information on various Polish subjects or how to obtain Polish materials (often Harlequins) through our interlibrary loan system. Patrons still arrive at the branch in awe of the titles in our Polish collection and enthusiastically apply for a Chicago Public Library Card.

The grant gave Portage-Cragin and The Chicago Public Library an opportunity to expand services to the Polish and ethnic communities of Chicago with further help from two additional LSCA Grants. "Computer Literacy" provided computer software in Spanish and Polish while "Building On" enlarged small Polish collections throughout Chicago Public Library system.

The real story of WIEDZA TO POTEGA is seen in the happy faces of the children as they grab a copy of POLISH LEGENDS AND TALES, the women delighted with the latest copy of the Polish Harlequins, the students using Polish language medical and technical dictionaries and encyclopedias, our seniors clutching a copy of an old classic in Polish, and one elderly Polish man's response as he proudly displayed his new Chicago Public Library Card, "This is the only Green Card I need!"

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