Skokie library teams with nonprofit for story hours in Dari, Farsi, Arabic and Urdu

Walk into the Skokie Public Library and you may notice a “hello” message on the walls to the building’s entrances. Displayed in English, Spanish, Chinese, Romanian, Potawatomi, Hebrew, Arabic and more than a dozen other languages, that message is for everyone.

Now, through a partnership with the Niles Township Early Childhood Alliance, the library is reinforcing its inclusive messaging by offering a series of bilingual storytime events this spring in Dari/Farsi, Arabic and Urdu. 

The storytimes, which began earlier this month, will take place 10-11 a.m. April 7, April 14, May 5 and May 12 and involve a family liaison from the ECA reading passages from children’s books and singing songs with parents and children in the different languages. 

The Dari/Farsi-English storytime hours were scheduled to take place this month, while the Arabic-English storytimes will happen in April and the Urdu-English storytimes are set for May. 

“It’s a nice way to serve families, particularly the English language-learner population who oftentimes are underserved in Skokie and the greater Niles Township area, and just make things more accessible to them,” said Tina Vanderwarker, executive director of the ECA,. “I think making the library feel more like a place where they belong is important.”

Andy Leinbach, a community engagement supervisor with the library, said he and Zakia Ali, a family liaison with the ECA, began their first session on March 3 by providing some time for the group of about 40 children and caregivers in attendance to socialize. 

The two then took turns reading in English and Dari, before leading a couple of songs. 

A number of the attending caregivers who only speak English, or who speak another language other than Dari or Farsi, also communicated afterward that they appreciated seeing other languages prioritized and having the chance to expose their children to them, Vanderwarker said. 

Leinbach said the library wanted to host the bilingual series because “Cultivating Connectedness and Belonging” in the community and “Providing Services that Resonate” via diverse events and accessible spaces are two key focus areas of the library’s strategic plan. 

“The ECA, for the families we’re working with, they have become this trusted resource for the families,” Leinbach said. “To invite them to the story times, it’s not just an invitation coming out of nowhere, it’s an invitation from a trusted resource, from trusted people.”

Vanderwarker also said the ECA serves individuals who come from countries that do not have public library systems, so the storytime events help introduce new families to the Skokie library so they can learn about its free resources and feel comfortable building a community inside it. 

It’s also important to simply encourage parents to read to their children, Vanderwarker said. 

Ali, who has been a family liaison with the ECA for over three years, said she knows parents and grandparents who are concerned that their young children learn English first and won’t be able to communicate Dari or Farsi, their family’s native language. 

But the bilingual storytime hours help encourage children to learn Dari or Farsi alongside other children and take some of the burden of teaching the language off of parents, Ali said. 

While the Skokie Public Library has previously held Spanish bilingual storytimes, and Vanderwarker recalls the library hosting an Urdu storytime, Leinbach described this months-long focused, strategic series with these four otherwise underrepresented languages as “breaking ground” for the library and the community it serves.

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Become a member of The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a member? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.