College of Information (INFO) - College of Information (INFO)

Libraries, Integration, and New Americans: Understanding immigrant acculturative stress

The Libraries, Integration, and New Americans (LINA) project investigates the role of information in immigrant acculturative stress and how it impacts library access. For more than a century, America’s public libraries have provided services to immigrants. However, little is known about how information that is stressful to access, manage, or use is counterproductive to immigrant integration and well-being. The project deliverables will include a free, self-paced mini-course for library staff, a pilot course and curriculum on immigration and information, and a workbook for immigrant groups.

This project aims to reframe how librarians approach immigrants’ information behavior by:

  1. Operationalizing acculturative stress or the strain caused by adjusting to a new culture, from an LIS standpoint
  2. Investigating connections between information and indicators of acculturative stress
  3. Distilling community-centered recommendations on how libraries can respond to immigrant acculturative stress.

This project launched in 2021 with financial support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant RE-250026-OLS-21, (August 1, 2021 – July 31, 2024, $379,957).

Duration:
8/1/2021 - Ongoing

Principal Investigator(s):

Project Website:
https://lina.ischool.umd.edu/

Research Funder: Research Areas: Center and Lab Affiliation: