Research Article

 

Library Workers’ Perceptions of Immigrant Acculturation: Renewed Understandings for Changing Contexts

 

Ana Ndumu

Assistant Professor
College of Information

University of Maryland

College Park, Maryland, United States of America

Email: andumu@umd.edu

 

Hayley Park

PhD Student
College of Information

University of Maryland

College Park, Maryland, United States of America

Email: hp00@umd.edu

 

Connie Siebold

PhD Candidate
College of Information
University of Maryland

College Park, Maryland, United States of America

Email: csiebold@umd.edu

 

Received: 10 June 2025                                                              Accepted: 15 Oct. 2025

 

 

Creative Commons C image 2025 Ndumu, Park, and Siebold. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons‐Attribution‐Noncommercial‐Share Alike License 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the same or similar license to this one.

 

 

DOI: 10.18438/eblip30823

 

 

Abstract

 

Objective – Immigrants’ adjustment to U.S. society, also known as immigrant acculturation, is a vast area of study, but there are few studies relating to immigrant acculturation within the library and information science field.

 

Methods – Data from 131 survey responses and 20 interviews suggest that library workers are somewhat familiar with the immigrant acculturation process, but specific and evidence based training can further their knowledge.

 

Results – Insight on immigrant acculturation contextualizes immigrants’ realities and thus assists library workers in being aware of and responsive to the nuances of adjusting to and thriving in a new country like the U.S.

 

Conclusion – In the face of anti-immigration legislation and heightened xenophobic misinformation, librarians need professional development drawn from empirical investigations of immigrants’ acculturative experiences.

 

 

Introduction

 

Michel, a 48-year-old Afro-Latino, migrated to the United States from Nicaragua in 2023 through a parole program that allowed private U.S. citizens to sponsor Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) immigrants. The CHNV program was modeled after sponsorship initiatives among other countries and intends to both circumvent dangerous, expensive Central American migration routes while granting newcomers better community support and, hopefully, opportunities for financial independence. Michel was sponsored by his sister after his small shop was destroyed in a mudslide. Within a week of arriving in the U.S., he used his life’s savings to apply for a work permit and Social Security number, open a bank account, and establish a new phone line. The following week, he visited the neighborhood public library to apply for a library card, register for English language classes, and download a language learning application on his mobile phone. Michel practiced English and became familiar with U.S. culture while waiting for work authorization. His goal is to send remittances to his wife and sons while saving to sponsor their migration to the U.S.

 

In 2021, thirty-five-year-old Hila arrived in the U.S. from Afghanistan through the special immigrant visa humanitarian program after the U.S. military withdrawal. Although her husband had been contracted as a logistics analyst with the U.S. Army, Hila had little formal education and only speaks Dari. Together with their four children, Hila and her husband are acclimating to life within a tight-knit Afghan community. On Wednesdays, Hila and other Afghan women visit the public library for welcome sessions geared toward refugee families. Participants practice English through activities celebrating Afghan traditions while also gaining access to local financial, educational, social, and transportation resources. The sessions include Halal meals, childcare for younger children, and tutoring for older children. Aside from attending weekly services at the mosque and enjoying tea at the park during warmer weather, this is the only other place where Hila and the women in her Afghan neighborhood recreate. 

 

Michel and Hila represent the myriad circumstances prompting migration to the U.S. Embedded in their journeys is an aspect of contemporary migration that is often overlooked: some newcomers have pre-migration connections to the U.S., and their relocation is not as haphazard as is often presented in national discourse. Many immigrants leave behind forms of stability and familiarity that make emigrating a reluctant but necessary act.

 

Information resources, locales, and networks remain vital for successful cultural adjustment, or acculturation. Through these vignettes, the researchers aim to humanize immigrants’ lived experiences rather than simply report research about the acculturative aspects of immigration. This study is part of a multipart research project that captures immigrant acculturation from the vantage points of library workers, immigrant advocates, and immigrants themselves. This inquiry is guided by the grand question: What does it mean to acculturate to U.S. society, and how can library workers support those who are new to U.S. cultural norms? The current climate of anti-immigrant misinformation and hardline immigration policies necessitates an evidence based understanding of immigrant acculturation.

 

U.S. Immigration and Library Service

 

The United States is characteristically a country in which all groups except for indigenous people are connected to ancestors born elsewhere. Large-scale migration, whether forced or voluntary, has significantly influenced the country's history. Libraries have long engaged with immigrants–albeit, some more than others. As we argue, library service to immigrants has paralleled U.S. racial and social political trends (Ndumu & Park, 2025). Various other publications (Jones, 1999; 2003; 2020; Novotny, 2003; Weigand, 1989) chronicle library service to immigrants, which has evolved into a defining aspect of the profession. Other publications synthesize how immigrants use libraries (Grossman et. al, 2022; Burke, 2007).

Historical Context

 

Although this type of library outreach began over a century ago when there was extensive focus on European immigrants, today immigrants of all kinds report that they, for the most part, perceive libraries as relatively easy to visit, uncumbersome in their requirements for service, and non-threatening in their approach, according to the 2018 U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Public Needs for Library and Museum Services (PNMLS) data (Ndumu, 2024). To some immigrants, libraries are straightforward, helpful, and welcoming–at least compared to other public service points.

 

Perhaps since libraries have offered service to immigrants for hundreds of years and the immigrant narrative remains a quintessential part of America’s famed plurality, this aspect of the library profession is limited by a singular epistemic tradition of utilitarian self-improvement. English language service, citizenship preparation, and job placement often anchor library outreach as well as recommended best practices for immigrant engagement. For example, the Una Voz program at Richland Library in South Carolina was created to reach out to the Hispanic and Latinx communities by providing English as a Second Language (ESOL) classes and language translations for job seekers (American Library Association, 2021). Project Welcome at Broward County Library in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, demonstrates a similar programming emphasis. Consisting of two parts – Engaging and Transitioning - the library not only provided English and citizenship classes but also actively utilized Amazon Echo devices to assist their non-English-speaking community members with language barriers (American Library Association, 2021). The researchers were motivated to probe the extent to which library workers understand immigrant acculturation more broadly, given the field’s firmly established, traditional library offerings.

Current Connections

 

Immigration is changing; so, too, must our relationships with immigrant communities. When we

consider, for example, that mass migration has always been a part of United States history, then we understand that people have and will always be on the move, and the U.S. is a forever-changing nation. Viewed through this lens, we can deduce that headlines like “The Immigration Crisis Arrives at the Library” (Price, 2020) are hardly new and echo library literature from over a century ago, “Aliens storming all of our libraries: ‘Books for Everyone’ movement aims to supply enormous demand and aid Americanization work” (Carr, 1920).

 

This is not to suggest that Price’s (2020) article in American Libraries is solely alarmist and essentialist, for it does raise awareness of the vastness of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It also hints at the ongoing material impact of hardline immigration legislation on libraries of all types. These changes in the circumstances and backgrounds among immigrants, along with the “management” policies and global dynamics affecting them—as Michel and Hila’s journeys portray—motivate us to consider library engagement with immigrants anew. Immigration is becoming increasingly complex and information-saturated, and we are curious about the extent to which librarians comprehend the multifaceted and evolving nature of the immigrant experience.

Aims and Positionality

 

This study is one of a multipart research project exploring 1) the concept of information acculturation among immigrants, 2) the role of acculturation and acculturative stress in adjusting to new information environments, and 3) the influence of information overload –rather than ubiquitous information poverty, digital divide, or digital novice framings–on immigrant acculturation. The researchers themselves identify as immigrants, and the goal is to grant realism to what some might consider stock, at best, and romanticized, at worst, aspects of library outreach to immigrants.

 

The following research questions guided this study, which examines library workers’ knowledge of the nuanced aspects of adjusting to a new culture:

 

RQ1.                  How do library workers define immigrant acculturation?

RQ2.                  To what extent are library workers knowledgeable about immigrant acculturation?

RQ3.                  To what extent do library workers acculturate as they engage with immigrants?

Literature Review

 

Defined in the population studies literature as “second culture acquisition and adaptation” (Rudmin, 2009), acculturation in this article refers to transitioning to a new information environment. Culture is germane to information behavior or how humans interact with information (Bates, 2015). Bates suggests that “we understand information behavior within social contexts and as integrated with cultural practices and values” (2010, para. 65); and that culture is “all that we have created as a species…it is our entire social heritage as a species” (2015, para. 27). The information science field has evolved to demonstrate “deeper and less simplistic understanding” of information needs, seeking, and use” (Bates, 2010).

 

A sizable proportion of information behavior research explores people’s engagement with information within distinct cultural parameters. Some scholarship, such as the thread of localized and geospatial information behavior–for example, Fisher et al.’s (2004a; 2004b; Pettigrew, 1998; 1999) information grounds and Lingel’s (2011; 2015) information wandering–distinctly captures immigrants’ place-based information norms. A holistic view of people, information, and the worlds they inhabit means that researchers must be attuned to situation, time, geography, and culture (Case & Given, 2016). Without context, or what Dewey (1960, p. 90) describes as “a spatial and temporal background which affects all thinking,” information research risks being circumscribed to scientific classifications, absent of real-life, humanizing meaning.

 

Comprehending communities’ physical and temporal habits remains important, but we must also gauge subjective, deeply personal information dynamics. Nahl’s (1996; 2004; 2007) focus on affect in information behavior, though not explicitly centered on immigrants, sheds light on this important aspect of acculturation. For example, Nahl’s studies of the emotional, internal, but societally informed nature of people’s information behavior attend to the salience of community and cultural formations in human-information interactions. Contextual factors include behaviors, emotions, rules, and structures of an organization, as well as the attributes, norms, and beliefs of a given culture (Case & Given, 2016).

 

It follows, then, that acculturation is important to information behavior research and practice. Nahl (2001) describes acculturation as a lifelong process and “state of operating that we all perform in our daily societal functioning” (para. 25). Nahl further argues that “being an information user is not a demographic category or personality factor.” Nahl nods to Dervin’s sense-making model and correlative arguments that being social and cultural requires humans to be information seekers and consumers (Dervin, 1983).

 

Acculturation is a process involving gathering and negotiating information about the mainstream group and one's perceived or forced place within it. Theories like information worlds (Jaeger & Burnett, 2010) reify this notion by accounting for cultural forces. It suggests that myriad localized small worlds of a culture converge with the full lifeworld of an entire culture; a person’s exclusion from either sphere prompts cultural estrangement (Burnett, 2015). Generally, people process information about their own group (in-group) and other groups (out-groups), including how people are categorized and the extent to which they identify with these categories (Tajfel & Turner, 1979; 1986). Conceptually, this aligns with Berry’s (1993) well-known four-fold typology of immigrant acculturation that theorizes immigrants as undergoing either 1) integration, or retention of the original culture while being knowledgeable about the new culture; 2) assimilation, or gradually foregoing the culture of origin; 3) separation, or neither aligning with the new or original culture; or 4) marginalization, or retaining the original culture but never being included in the new culture.

 

The process of acculturation includes relocation into new information spheres, leaving an acculturating individual to sort through massive amounts of information that may be in unfamiliar formats, locations, or languages. Acculturation can last decades, according to longitudinal studies (Meca et al., 2018), although the first five years post-arrival comprises a “sensitive acculturative period” (Cheung et al., 2011) when an immigrant is at higher risk of acculturative stress–a  phenomena that is itself defined and operationalized in many ways, including “negative reaction to intercultural contact or the cultural adaptation process” (D’Alonzo et al., 2019) and a negative response by people to life events that are rooted in new intercultural contact (Berry, 2006). An immigrant’s encounters with acculturative stress are subjective and unique (Berry, 1997; Ndumu, 2020). Immigrants might feel “pressured by voluminous and complex information or pressures stemming from the various stages at which they need, seek, use, or process resources” (Ndumu, 2020). Specific stress points, such as a lack of trust in public officials (Bekteshi & van Hook, 2015), are direct information access barriers.

 

Acculturation can also be seen as a type of storytelling, yet another facet of information whereby immigrants rely on narratives to weave their identities. According to Bekteshi & van Hook (2015), cultural stories can promote a positive image through media and other community information sources. Bekteshi and Kang (2020) similarly write that climate—interpreted as perceived discrimination, immigrant depictions, and one’s overall quality of life and happiness in the U.S.—also relies on information ecosystems. Kim (1977) theorized that the acculturative process involves “curiosity, searching out of necessity, and going beyond the customary information.” Although much of Kim’s theoretical proposition relies on the level of language proficiency, Kim argues that immigrants develop new information processing systems as they acculturate. Interaction with mainstream culture, or cultural knowledge, facilitates acculturation (Celenk & Van de Vijver, 2011).

 

Relatedly, pre-migration information access, mainly distilled through social media, also determines one’s level of acculturation-related stress. Prior knowledge or contact with the host society is a key individual factor, according to Cabassa (2003). The ease of global information access, made possible mainly through smartphones, allows immigrants to map their journeys and pose questions to trusted, informed community members. Greater facility and agency in amassing information about migration destinations appears to benefit acculturation. In their study on expectations (or what Plutchik’s (1980) wheels of emotions sees as anticipation), Negy and his colleagues (2009) suggest that discrepancies between anticipated and actual experiences induce acculturative stress. Information in the form of media portrayals and personal networks influences many immigrants to relocate to the U.S. with high anticipation of positive social, economic, and relational outcomes. The reality for most immigrants is that they will encounter a mixture of satisfactory and dissatisfactory experiences. Misinformation, either in the form of nativist, racist, or anti-immigrant views from U.S.-born groups toward immigrants or as distorted, inaccurate, and even positive embellishments of life in the United States, influences viewers and eventual emigrants in other countries (Bhattacharya & Schoppelrey, 2004). Relatedly, “immigrants already living in the United States may convey a positive picture of life in the United States to their family and friends still living in their country of origin" (Negy et al., 2009, p. 259). These and other forms of information disconnects may prompt acculturative stress.

 

Based on a synthesis of acculturative literature, information leaders, especially those who are non-immigrants, can support newly immigrated families by mediating between newcomers, long-established immigrants, and local support organizations. Immigrant leaders garner greater trust than non-immigrant decision-makers. In their work around cultural fusion theory, Croucher and Kramer (2017) posit that recent immigrants to the United States often seek out and join institutions such as places of worship, festivals, and clubs previously established by members of their immigrant communities. Interactions between immigrant leaders and heads of households at times transcend social class and backgrounds (Waters et al, 2010), whereas non-immigrant information leaders, through complex or inaccessible systems, are prone to reinforcing class and social hierarchies.

 

Acculturation exists in any network, whether large organizations, small groups, dispersed communities, or abstract associations. Few studies explore the acculturative dimensions of information norms—that is, the ways in which people remain rooted in their culture while navigating U.S. information environments. Community embeddedness, a prominent indicator, connects people with significant resources (Waters et al., 2010). U.S. society must be willing to organize its information institutions and infrastructure to meet the needs of various immigrant groups, which directly implicates knowledge-building sites such as libraries, archives, museums, schools, higher education, and more (Esses et al., 2015). Such institutions form hubs within larger cultural networks that enable immigrants to interface with support systems.

 

Methods

 

To explore the research questions in light of the aforementioned characteristics of immigrant acculturation and immigrant information behavior, the researchers designed an explanatory mixed-methods study comprised of a survey followed by semi-structured interviews.

Pilot

 

Three pre-testers (advisors on the broader research project) who met the inclusion criteria of current library workers aged 18 and older living in the U.S. or its territories provided feedback on both the survey and interview instruments found in Appendices A and B. The feedback culminated in improvements being made to simplify the open-ended questions, as well as probing about cultural competence as a component of library workers’ bilateral acculturation.


Scale and Construct Development

 

To design the present study’s questionnaire, a literature-derived taxonomy of scale acculturative constructs (Appendix C) was used to gauge immigrant acculturation. The scale emanated from an adjacent study aimed at improving the immigrant information overload scale (Ndumu, 2020) by now accounting for the influence of immigrant acculturation. The initial scale, which includes behavioral, qualitative, and quantitative dimensions, did not include acculturative indicators, solely reflecting information behavior characteristics rather than immigrants' lived or acculturative realities. The researchers thus conducted a bibliographic search, thematic review, and thematic annotations to identify 56 scales measuring immigrant acculturation or acculturative stress among the 128 articles. They linked nodes based on overlapping logic and concepts, creating a network of emergent arguments and evidence on how immigrant acculturation is captured. The researchers also addressed points of conflict and convergence within the corpus, such as the preponderance of proxy measures, lack of bidirectional or multidimensional treatment, or inclusion of stereotypical and essentialist immigrant representations. After filtering flawed scales, four scales were selected as the basis for an improved, comprehensive scale to explore the role of information in the acculturation process. These constructs were incorporated into the present study’s survey instrument.


Survey Questionnaire

 

This survey questionnaire explores librarians' comprehension of immigrant acculturation, focusing on participants’ 1) demographics, 2) definition of acculturation, and 3) knowledge of the acculturative process. Section four invited respondents to participate in 30-minute online interviews. The survey questionnaire was distributed through eight library association listservs along with social media such as LinkedIn, ALAConnect, and Facebook between July 28 and November 3, 2023. An a priori G*Power analysis indicated that 83 responses were needed to achieve statistical power. Descriptive and inferential data analyses were conducted using SPSS software. A Chi-square test was performed to identify any correlations among key variables.


Interviews

 

Interviews took place between August 4 and October 27, 2023. Informed by the survey responses, the interview questions sought to gain an in-depth understanding of librarians’ perceptions of acculturation as distinct from assimilation and their willingness to engage in the process. Twenty interview participants were selected based on their responses to a survey question about their willingness to participate in a follow-up interview. Interviews were first transcribed, standardized, anonymized, and staged within the tool Dedoose in preparation for coding. Using an a priori literature-derived coding scheme of immigrant acculturation concepts, the researchers separately coded a subset of interview one, arriving at an .80 intercoder reliability score after several iterations. Analysis consisted of deductive thematic coding, beginning with first openly coding each interview, axial coding across interviews, followed by in vivo coding to capture codes not represented in the a priori coding scheme. The inductive qualitative analytic approach aligns with the study's explanatory, etic design.

 

By offering insight that can help realize reflective and responsive efforts, mixed methods library and information science research advances evidence based library practice (Fidel, 2008; Granikov et. al, 2020; Hayman & Smith, 2020), a paradigm that stresses the use of current, credible research findings to guide professional practice and decision-making (Gillepsie, 2014). Adopting evidence based practices in library and information science has several advantages, such as changing how libraries function, offer services, and explain their value to communities (Wu & Pu, 2015). Evidence based library and information science supports the ideology that professional decisions should not be made exclusively on the basis of tradition, intuition, or anecdotal experiences. Library workers and other information professionals must actively seek out and assess evidence when developing systems. Although the research herein cannot be considered representative of the entire population of U.S. library workers, the findings show the field’s understandings of immigrant acculturation.

 

Results

 

The survey garnered 151 responses, of which 19 were less than 40 percent complete, and 1 declined consent. Thus, 20 were omitted, leaving 131 usable survey responses (sample N value) that then garnered 20 interviews. With the exception of demographic backgrounds, the subsequent data is reported according to the number of responses per question item (item N value).

              

Participant Backgrounds

 

The majority (n=96; 66%) of participants were under age 50. Most participants (n=112; 78%) were born in the United States, with approximately 31 (22%) respondents identifying as having been born outside the United States in countries such as Mexico, China, India, and Japan, among others. Thus, there is some immigrant representation in the survey sample. There was considerable U.S. regional representation, with participants residing in 28 different states. Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont, and New Hampshire yielded the most responses. Table 1 and Table 2 present participants' demographics by age and birth country, while Figure 1 further illustrates the states represented in the sample.

 

Table 1
Participant Demographics

 

 Age

 n

 %

 18-30

 24

 18.46

 31-40

 32

 24.62

 41-50

 30

 23.08

 51-60

 28

 21.54

 

60 or above

 16

 12.31

Item N=130

 

Table 2

Participant Heritage

 

 Birth Country

 n

 %

 United States

 101

 78.3

 Mexico

 5

 3.9

 China

 3

 2.3

 India

 3

 2.3

 Japan

 2

 1.6

 Others

 16

 12.4

Item N = 129.

Other countries represented are Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Germany, Iran, Kuwait, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, St. Kitts, and Taiwan.

 

A graphic map of the United States, with states represented by squares colored based on frequency of respondents’ state of residence.

Figure 1
Participants’ state of residence. The map was created using the template created by Caitlin Dempsey, GeographyRealm.com.

 

Most respondents (n=88; 68%) had a graduate or professional degree, with 88% of them holding an MLIS degree (n=79). The second most represented group was bachelor’s degree holders (n=28; 22%). The average number of years in the current position was 5.73 years; and the average number of years in the profession was 13.2 years. For the work environment, out of 129 (N), most respondents reported working in library settings (n=105; 81%) while 12 respondents (9%) reported working in education. Job titles range from library assistant (n=30; 23%) to various types of librarians (n=44; 34%), coordinators and specialists (n=18; 14%), library directors (n=19; 15%), and departmental heads (n=6; 5%), managers (n=6; 5%), and faculty members (n=2; 2%). Table 3 shows participants' education levels by the highest degree completed, work setting, number of years in the current position, and the total years of experience in the LIS field.

 

 

Table 3

Participant Work or Employment Background

 

Variable

 N

 n

 %

 Degree Earned

 129

 

 

   Graduate or professional

 

 88

 68.22

   University - Bachelor’s degree

 

 28

 21.71

   Some university but no degree

 

 11

 8.53

   Secondary

 

 1

 0.78

   Vocational or similar

 

 1

 0.69

 Years in the Profession (by 5 years)

 129

 

 

    0-5

 

 36

 27.97

    6-10

 

 34

 26.36

    11-15

 

 16

 12.4

    16-20

 

 13

 10.08

    21 and more

 

 30

 23.26

 Employment setting

 129

 

 

    Library
    (e.g., public, academic, media center, law, medical)

 

 105

 81.4

    Education
    (e.g., elementary, middle, high, college/university)

 

 12

 9.3

    Municipal or government agency
    (e.g., local social services)

 

 4

 3.1

    Nonprofit organization
   (e.g., charity, foundation, advocacy group)

 

 4

 3.1

    Other

 

 4

 3.1

Job positions

 129

 

 

   Librarians

 

 44

 34.1

   Library assistant/associate

 

 30

 23.26

   Director

 

 19

 14.73

   Specialist

 

 9

 6.98

   Coordinator

 

 9

 6.98

   Supervisor/manager

 

 6

 4.65

   Department heads

 

 6

 4.65

   Faculty

 

 2

 1.55

   Miscellaneous

 

 4

 3.1

 

RQ1: Definition of Acculturation

 

When asked about the meaning of acculturation, 129 (N) respondents selected multiple choices. The largest proportion of the returned responses included “Learning a new culture” (n=92; 71%), followed by “Transitioning to a new culture” (n=57; 39%), and “Creating a new culture” (n=20; 16%). Further freeform responses in “Other” include:

 

●       Giving up one’s culture while adjusting to a new culture.

●       Adapting to another dominant culture, not necessarily assimilation, but involves it.

●       Losing own culture in favor of learning another.

●       Assimilation to a different culture, typically the dominant one.

●       Blending of cultures.

●       Integrating into a new culture.

●       Learning a new culture you are now living within.

●       Inviting another culture in addition to one’s own.

 

When asked if acculturation is the same as naturalization, the data suggest that most respondents (n=109; 96%) were able to distinguish between acculturation and naturalization. However, when asked about acculturation and assimilation, some expressed confusion. Among the sample (N=128), while more than half (n=83; 65%) answered that acculturation is not the same as assimilation, 35% of the sample answered that acculturation is the same as assimilation (n=20; 15%) or showed a lack of knowledge on the subject (n=25; 20%). Table 4 further demonstrates the areas of congruence and ambiguity in the participants’ understanding of acculturation.

 

 

Table 4

Definition of Acculturation

 

 Variable

 N

 n

 %

 Acculturation is the same as naturalization.

 114

 

   Yes

 

 5

 4.39

   No

 

 109

 95.61

 Acculturation is the same as assimilation.

 128

 

 

   True

 

 20

 15.63

   False

 

 83

 64.84

   Don’t know

 

 25

 19.53

 

Interview data further pointed to library workers’ considerations of immigrant acculturation. Similar to the survey response, some interview respondents appeared to conflate the concepts of assimilation and acculturation; they used the terms interchangeably. When the concepts appeared to be distinctly understood, negative assimilation featured as a recurring theme. Some disassociated acculturation and assimilation, with strong sentiments expressed about assimilation representing cultural distancing. One interviewee shared, “[Assimilation] has a connotation of neglecting, forgetting or dismissing your previous experiences, culture, and way of life and doing things.” (P13), and others similarly shared that assimilation equates to moving from one’s culture, though it can be perceived as a requirement: "It's not an option. It’s the way it is. I’m seeing myself as part of the community; now that we are living here, it’s either we assimilate or we are going to struggle a lot. So it’s, of course, a necessity. It’s a need that we [immigrants] have–to learn the new way.” (P3)

 

To some interviewees, acculturation encompasses moving inward from the outside of society; one expressed, “[Acculturation] would be arriving in a new culture, learning about that culture and being able to apply the different beliefs, behaviors, norms, etc. so that you would no longer appear to be an outsider–or, at least appear less like one.” (P14) Another described the vastness of assimilation as opposed to acculturation, specifically, “Understanding, using, and adopting the ideals of just the laws and the politics. And when I say ‘laws,’ not only the legal laws, but sort of the unspoken laws in assimilation” (P7).

 

RQ2: Knowledge of Acculturation

 

The study also investigates the extent to which library workers understand the characteristics of acculturation, such as duration, links to stress, positive outcomes, and relation to successful integration. When given the same set of literature-derived constructs in Table 4, the respondents showed variations in their responses when asked about their knowledge of acculturation. For all the following questions, the respondents were allowed to select multiple choices. When asked about the changes that acculturation involves, 128 participants (N) responded, with 117 respondents (91%) selecting language access, followed by community involvement (n=106; 83%). When asked about the areas acculturation promotes, community involvement was again ranked at the top (N=127; n=102; 80%), closely followed by economic or workforce empowerment (n=100; 79%), and educational attainment (n=92; 72%). The most significant difference in the response appeared in the question about potential barriers to acculturation. While language access (N=129; n=118; 92%) and educational attainment (n=104; 81%) appeared to be consistently predominant, digital literacy (n=97; 75%) was selected significantly more as a barrier when it was ranked at the lowest for the question on the changes involved in acculturation.

 

 

Table 5

Participants’ Knowledge of Acculturation

 

 Variations

 N

 n

 %

 When it comes to immigrants, acculturation involves changes in:

 128

 

   Language access

 

 117

 91.4

   Community involvement

 

 106

 82.81

   Economic or workforce empowerment

 

 102

 79.69

   Quality of life

 

 95

 74.22

   Educational attainment

 

 90

 70.31

   Physical and mental wellness

 

 83

 64.84

   Political participation

 

 79

 61.72

   Digital Literacy

 

 77

 60.16

   Other

 

 14

 10.94

 When it comes to immigrants, acculturation promotes:

 127

 

 

   Community involvement

 

 102

 80.31

   Economic or workforce empowerment

 

 100

78.74

   Language access

 

 99

 77.95

   Educational attainment

 

 92

 72.44

   Political participation

 

 84

 66.14

   Quality of life

 

 81

 63.78

   Physical and mental wellness

 

 68

 53.54

   Digital literacy

 

 68

 53.54

   Other

 

 12

 9.45

 When it comes to immigrants, acculturation can be limited by
 barriers to:

 129

 

 

   Language access

 

 118

 91.47

   Educational attainment

 

 104

 80.62

   Digital literacy

 

 97

 75.19

   Economic or workforce empowerment

 

 96

 74.42

   Community involvement

 

 94

 72.87

   Physical and mental wellness

 

 85

 65.89

   Political participation

 

 79

 61.24

   Quality of life

 

 79

 61.24

   Everyday habits

 

 64

 49.61

 

When asked about the length of acculturation, out of 119 respondents, 97 (82%) answered ongoing, 15 (13%) answered 3-5 years, 5 (4%) answered 0-2 years, and 2 (2%) answered 6-10 years. The most interesting responses were found in the question about the necessity of acculturation. Out of 118 respondents, while 50 (42%) found it necessary for immigrants to acculturate to succeed in a new country, more than half (n=64; 54%) found the case neither true nor false.

 

Respondents were asked about the connection between immigrant acculturation and information access. Regarding specific areas in which immigrant acculturation positively impacts information access, the respondents noted language acquisition, expansion of resource and information access points, community involvement, and cultural and civic education. Some of the specific responses include:

 

●       Knowing the new political, economic, and social system.

●       Helping immigrants understand how and where to obtain information in their new country, as well as how to interpret it in context.

●       Improving new language skills opens up information access. Improving understanding of new-culture structures also opens up info access.

●       Language acquisition, community engagement, and mutual understanding of their differences.

●       [Helping] eliminate cultural misunderstandings.

●       Providing immigrants with interpersonal and experiential knowledge of ways to get information in their new country.

 

Conversely, when asked about how immigrant acculturation relates to stress and anxiety, the respondents predominantly shared language barrier, limited access to employment or educational opportunities, a sense of not belonging, alienation, fear, and conflicts of identities. Freeform responses include:

 

●       Emotional load of trying to satisfy the requirements of two societies.

●       Not knowing the language of the country you are in can be stressful. Not understanding the political system causes stress and a lack of voting participation.

●       Anxiety of not knowing or understanding who provides services to thrive in a certain country that is not the one you grew up in.

●       Code switching, concerns about identity, and social anxiety.

●       It is difficult to adjust to a new culture, especially a demanding one like in the U.S., where a lot of times we expect people to figure it out on their own, learn a new language to be able to gain information (info isn't always offered in native languages). Learning everything new again basically. I also know that sometimes educational attainment isn't transferred or applicable to similar jobs here. For example, you could be a doctor elsewhere but not meet the requirements to be a doctor in the US, thus setting immigrants back even further when they try to set up a good life.

●       Politics, religion, what to wear, and access to education.

●       The process of acculturation causes stress to the immigrant, even if the end result is positive. Acculturation may reduce stress and anxiety over the long term, but the process is definitely stressful. (I respond as someone who has lived in two foreign countries for a year in each.)

 

To explore the link between librarians’ perceptions of immigrant acculturation and library services, the interview questions included how libraries might provide opportunities for immigrant acculturation. Some participants shared specific programs that have been implemented in their libraries, such as ESL/ESOL classes for language access. Within language access, the creation of a multilingual library collection appears to be prominent in both public and academic library settings, based on the study sample. Some participants also mentioned programs centered on creating a welcoming, community-centered environment. The examples included a Spanish conversation circle, where anyone interested in learning or speaking Spanish can participate and learn from one another, along with a one-on-one buddy pairing program that connects a new faculty member to an existing faculty member on campus for effective acculturation to the new work and living environments.

 

Interview insight clarified library workers’ perceptions of acculturation. Some library workers acknowledged the role of age at migration and household composition. Specifically, the acculturative experience varies by generation. One pointed to acculturation as “trying to teach your children about one culture and the new culture” (P10). English language preference was seen as a form of assimilation, according to several interviewees. One shared, “Part of assimilation is the abandoning of the language. It’s an abandoning of some of the other aspects, too, but the language, especially when you see kids not speaking the language that their parents speak, or not speaking it proficiently. Or their parents speak to them in [for example] Arabic and they respond in English. I have a language focus at the library with my program. So I’m going to think of it through that lens. But the abandoning of the languages that they used to speak…to me, that seems like a really significant part of assimilation.” (P6) It appears then that bilingualism and language inclusion are the preferred acculturation strategies, according to library workers; assimilation risks monolingual adaptation.

 

Relatedly, some library workers linked age at migration as an important factor in immigrant acculturation. One shared, “People who are ‘only mildly’ first generation have a certain understanding. Second generations swim in [U.S. culture] generally so they understand.” (P7) Another interviewee shared, “Older generations embrace their culture. While they may welcome other cultures, they’re more guarded. But the younger generation, when they blend with other cultures, sometimes I think they leave some of the older traditions of that culture behind.” (P2)

 

RQ3: Librarians’ Acculturation

 

When asked about the role of library workers in supporting immigrant acculturation, most respondents indicated that they had witnessed the process of acculturation (N=87; n=79; 90%), and many selected information access (n= 61; 56%), political and civic participation (n=18; 17%), and cultural heritage appreciation (n=7; 6%) as the top focal areas in their respective workplaces. As far as how library workers attempt to acculturate to immigrant environments, “Understanding their cultural heritage” (n=80; 24%)  and “Creating events and programs” (n= 81; 24%) ranked among the top, with partnering with local leaders (n=56; 17%) and including members in key decision-making (n=52; 15%) and learning a new language (n=45; 14%) ranking lower. Other responses included:

 

●       Letting them lead and share their needs.

●       Expanding knowledge of resiliency theory.

●       Everyone must have a seat at the table. Acculturation goes both ways.

●       Getting to know individuals.

●       Providing relevant resources.

 

However, the question of whether they had access to professional development training to better understand immigrant acculturation reflects some ambivalence. Among those who answered (N=109); 23 (21%) answered no, while the majority responded maybe (n=47; 43%) and yes (n=39; 35%). Further still, 61 (75%) respondents indicated that they know where to access educational resources to better understand immigrant acculturation (N=81), while 20 (25%) answered that they did not.

Interview responses garnered more detailed evidence of how library workers themselves acculturate or adjust as they partner with immigrant communities. Based on the survey results that evidenced the librarians’ witnessing of immigrant acculturation in their library and local communities, the interview questions probed into their perception of the need for librarians to acculturate to immigrant heritage cultures. The majority responded positively. The theme of librarian acculturation as a vital soft skill arose. One stated, “It keeps you thinking. It keeps you moving. It keeps you active. It keeps you learning. And the more you learn about other cultures, the more empathetic you are towards other cultures” (P19). The inference is thus that acculturation is mutually beneficial and important to library workers’ growth. One interviewee saw library workers’ acculturation as a personal choice: “It’s not an institutional level effort. It’s an individual choice, most of the time.” (P14), while another alluded to it being a professional tenet: “this concept of universal humanitarianism which finds its ethical values from interactions with different cultures. It’s something that librarians can’t just read about or practice by just offering services; they have to really adopt it” (P15).

 

Discussion

 

Varied Participants, Common Responses

 

The complexity of immigrant acculturation makes it unlikely that library workers will possess mastery of its terminology and psychology. It is plausible that the concept of “immigrant acculturation” may not be a term that library staff use in their day-to-day work environments. Our goal was not to validate notions of collective professional failure or inexperience; in other words, to expose library workers for not knowing enough about immigrant acculturation. While outrage certainly holds epistemic value (Kulbaga & Spencer, 2022), in the case of immigrant advocacy, a more generative approach is to call in rather than call out (University of New Mexico Health Sciences, 2025), which denotes bringing attention to an issue while also minimizing shame and punishment on the part of those who are genuinely unaware. Calling in allows those who are unaware to take a learning posture, thus inviting them to reflect. While it must not be mistaken for excusing preventable and intentional harm, calling in is rooted in building relationships and capacity. Calling out, meanwhile, often disempowers and divides, creating more debate than dialogue (University of New Mexico Health Sciences, 2025). The research discussion herein thus aims to sow actionable, transformative ideas for improving how libraries engage with immigrants.

 

The data garnered responses from a wide range of library workers. As mentioned, most held MLIS degrees and several worked in leadership positions such as library directors, supervisors/managers, department heads, and faculty. Even then, participants were largely early-to-mid career library workers with an average of 6 years in their current position and 13 years in the library and information science field. Approximately 81 percent (n=105) of respondents indicated that they work in traditional settings such as public, academic, media center/school, law, and medical libraries. Notably, survey respondents represented 29 states and territories. One might expect the sample to skew toward states with high immigrant populations. For example, states like New York, Texas, and California are recognized for their vast immigrant communities and correlative innovative library programs for immigrants. The fact that this study gleaned the most responses from participants in Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont, and New Hampshire might suggest that this area of library service is of interest to states with small but growing immigrant populations. Michigan, Vermont, and New Hampshire are comprised of 7.4 percent, 7.1 percent, and 4.5 percent of immigrants, respectively, according to Census data (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2023).


Participants’ demographics appear to show both congruence and heterogeneity regarding knowledge of acculturation, but the data were hardly segmented along the lines of participant identity. In terms of defining acculturation (RQ1), the findings support that, despite some library workers’ conflation of acculturation and assimilation, there is general parity as far as how library workers understand immigrant acculturation. Many demonstrated positive understandings of immigrant acculturation and negative perceptions of immigrant assimilation. The theme of acculturation as social capital emerged. For example, one interviewee valued acculturation and expressed:

 

“I will say that as a librarian, I think acculturation is a better method than assimilation. Again, it is up to the individual how they would like to proceed when they're transitioning into the country. But assimilation and the concept of leaving behind their home culture. I find that most of our immigrant patrons aren't trying to necessarily do that. They still hold dear their own traditions in their own language. We have many of our immigrant patrons who still speak their home native language…they're learning to be like bilingual. But I think assimilation, to me, has more of a negative connotation, because it is saying, ‘You need to leave behind your home culture”, and what we try to do here at our library is to make it possible so that they can acculturate but not assimilate where they can learn the communication skills and the social skills needed to progress in our community, but not necessarily have to leave their…culture.” (P1).

 

To another interviewee, culture can be seen as an asset socially in that “people come with their own assumptions, opinions, history, background story, and that has to play a part in the society they join, as well as long as that society is willing to accept those types of opinions, et cetera.” (P4).

 

However, one acknowledged that assimilation is often unintentional, the outcome of total blending with U.S. culture: “I think assimilation can be an active choice. But I think it's also an unconscious choice simply of getting around” (P7). The participant went on to add, “I think acculturation is, firstly, the most important, so [immigrants] can navigate the general outline of American culture. Where do you go for certain services? Who would you go to if you felt you were in trouble? Who is it most approachable in the community for things that you are entitled to, or problems you might have? And then I think assimilation kind of will follow from that, as you start feeling comfortable, you might say, ‘Hey, it's just a lot easier to do it this way here.’” (P7). Thus, some respondents’ perceptions of acculturation versus assimilation somewhat align with findings from immigrant acculturative research, particularly Berry’s (1997) fourfold acculturation typology that suggests acculturation is a continuum whereby people integrate, assimilate, separate, or become marginalized. There are, therefore, hints that study participants’ understandings of acculturation align with established research; a bigger sample or additional data might reveal more. Tangentially, a few participants implied generational differences, which, too, subtly coincide with acculturation research, specifically cross-sectional studies on the experiences of children who migrated closer to birth (Generation 1.75) versus closer to adulthood (Generation 1.25) and those who spent equal amounts of formative years in both the birth and receiving country (Generation 1.5). A future study might specifically probe library workers’ engagement with the adolescent segment of the immigrant population.

 

Inferential statistical analyses did not reveal significant relationships between the study participants' ages, length of time on the job, years in the library field, library settings, or positions, and their perceptions of immigrant acculturation. A chi-square test of independence determined a lack of significant relation between the respondents’ time/years at their current position and their interpretation of acculturation (χ² (27, N=143) =22.16, p=.0.729). Likewise, chi-square analysis revealed that the number of years in the LIS field did not significantly relate to a library worker's interpretation of acculturation (χ² (27, N=143) =27.25, p=0.6505. The same goes for library setting (χ² (36, N=144) = 30.57, p =0.724) and level of education (χ² (36, N=145) = 45.96, p=0.1236). To put it another way, factors such as library worker education, leadership positions, workplace setting, or years of experience in the library field do not explain or predict understanding of immigrant acculturation, its determinants, and the outcomes. Those with greater experience in the library profession held the same understanding of immigrant acculturation and assimilation as those who are newer to the field or hold non-leadership positions. Respondents overwhelmingly distinguished acculturation from naturalization. Indeed, traditional library service has positioned citizenship preparation as a bedrock of programming. But, as acculturation research holds and the present political climate illustrates, a person can be naturalized as a U.S. citizen without ever fully feeling included in U.S. cultural norms, and, conversely, another immigrant might be acculturated without ever achieving naturalization or even documentation.


Throughout the research design process, the researchers found no justification for eliciting participants’ racial and gender information. They did, however, gather data on participants’ nationalities; this variable seemed germane to a study on immigration. As expected, the findings coincide with the library workforce composition in that the majority (n=101) of the respondents were U.S.-born. Of note, the interviews included proportionately more immigrant representation than the survey section of the study; 9 (45%) of the 20 interviewees noted that they were immigrants or children of immigrants. There were slight distinctions in how respondents of immigrant backgrounds perceive acculturation, assimilation, and determinants. For example, during the interviews, participants of immigrant backgrounds connected acculturation and acculturative constructs to their own lived experiences. One stated, “I’m an Asian person in a predominantly white community; there were maybe ten Asian kids in my graduating year of high school…I moved through the world with a certain tension between more traditional [Asian] values and the intricacies of the predominantly white southern community in terms of where I was living. And I think acculturation does have enough wiggle room to capture that kind of tension and fluidity” (P11). Instances like these evince that immigrant representation and inclusion help strengthen the field in the sense that library workers of immigrant backgrounds stretch our awareness of what it means to relocate, acculturate, and integrate within the United States.

 

Acculturation and Cultural Competence

 

If viewed as a bidirectional dynamic, acculturation is such that library workers must also learn about other immigrant cultures. Hence, immigrant acculturation most certainly relates to library workers’ cultural competence, defined by Overall (2009) as a broad term for the disposition, skillsets, and policies necessary for library workers to interact with people from different cultures in a healthy way. Participants' accounts align with Overall’s grounding, along with other well-known acculturation research, specifically Mercado (1997), in the sense that responses indicate that positive information encounters are essential to acculturation, and the lack of information is not the only possible circumstance. Regarding knowledge of acculturation (RQ2), survey findings, including the open-ended, free-form entries, support that participants ranked immigrant acculturation as positively impacting information access through language acquisition, followed by community involvement, and cultural and civic education. It helps immigrants understand the new political, economic, and social systems, improves language skills among those who are English language learners (as not all immigrants are non-English speakers), and eliminates cultural misunderstandings. According to participants, positive immigrant acculturation also provides interpersonal and experiential knowledge of the U.S. information landscape.

 

Furthermore, the data support that respondents implicitly grasped acculturative stress, characterized by a negative reaction to new cultural events and the cultural adaptation process (D’Alonzo et al., 2019; Berry, 2006), as per the data showing that participants view immigrant acculturation as a process that can cause stress and anxiety, particularly among those who are unfamiliar with their new country. Participants highlighted language barriers, limited access to employment or education, a sense of alienation, fear, and conflicts of identities. The emotional load of adjusting to a new culture, such as the U.S, can be overwhelming. Additionally, the process can be challenging due to the lack of transferable educational attainment and the need to adapt to new political, religious, and cultural norms, according to study participants. This was emphasized in participants’ freeform, open survey comments on the pressures of “code switching, concerns about identity, social anxiety” and that “it is difficult to adjust to a new culture, especially a demanding one like in the U.S. where a lot of times we expect people to figure it out on their own, learn a new language to be able to gain information (info isn't always offered in the native language). Learning everything new again, basically.” These instances echo Bekteshi and Kang’s (2020) notion that the information ecology is crucial to immigrants’ perceptions of climate, or the degree to which people feel discriminated against, how they see themselves portrayed, and how happy and fulfilled they are as a whole as newcomers to the United States. In other words, positive representations of immigrant inclusion and resilience can reinforce acculturation. Positive messaging or information about immigrants influences material, affective, and acculturative outcomes.

 

In this vein–and of particular import to this study rooted in evidence based library practice–the library field would do well to heed critics of acculturation research who warn of the perils of deficit-oriented, unidimensional measures of immigrant experiences–that is, “bad habits in our presumptions and research paradigms” (Rudmin, 2009, p. 118). Several scholars have called for sound immigrant acculturation research that eschews inferences of iconoclastic immigrant subcultures. It is for this reason that it was important to also engage library workers in thinking about their role in acknowledging and adjusting to immigrants’ cultural norms, whether or not they are themselves immigrants.

 

Limitations

 

This study began with a literature-derived baseline conceptualization of immigrant acculturation that culminated in an explanatory mixed-methods study whereby the researchers first designed a questionnaire based on the research milieu. They then piloted and disseminated the survey, gathered interviews, and analyzed the comprehensive data. Upon reflection, this research approach was limited in that it prescribed acculturative concepts with the goal of gauging the extent to which library workers understood established definitions of acculturation. Although this deductive and explanatory approach holds value, an inductive and exploratory (qualitative-quantitative) study design may have allowed for gathering raw, unprompted library worker definitions of immigrant acculturation. Additionally, the researchers submit that library workers’ views on acculturation cannot afford the same scope and scale of insight as direct accounts, particularly from recently arrived immigrants. For this very reason, a separate examination focuses on how immigrants conceptualize acculturation.

 

Conclusion

 

This project got underway during the summer of 2021 amid a global pandemic and years before the return of a populist, America-first presidential administration. Globalization and immigration continue to be contentious topics, and information is squarely at the center of these dynamics. Immigrant newcomers to the U.S. face evolving challenges stemming from misinformation, technology-driven policy-making, and various so-called information wars (Burke, 2018; Stengel, 2019). Within the two years that this study’s data was collected and manuscript drafted, the fictional characters, Michel and Hila who were introduced at the beginning, would have faced the reality of the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuela (CHNV) program being dismantled, the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) visa being revoked, and, in fact, Afghanistan, among other countries, being placed on the U.S. travel and entry bans as of June, 2025 (Proclamation No. 10949, 2025).

 

The new demands placed on library workers, coupled with the field’s responsibility to uphold accurate, unfettered information access, mean that library workers need to know more about what immigrants experience as they acculturate to U.S. society. The very essence of the library field calls for an informed and equipped workforce, regardless of individual political ideologies. Hence, the comprehensive evidence from this multi-part immigrant acculturation project was useful for confirming knowledge gaps and assets. Equipped with this evidence, the researchers developed self-paced training, immigration policy digests, a library worker network, and a growing immigrant outreach advocacy coalition. There is more to be done, nevertheless. Among other interventions, our field needs a data-driven national standard for immigrant outreach and data tracking on bias incidents or threats to immigrant engagement. In other words, we need more evidenced-based library practice, as highlighted in one interviewee’s request– “One thing that I would love as a professional resource, which I haven’t really been able to find, is help with the process of acculturation for librarians because I think more and more people working in small communities like here are encountering much more diverse patrons. And I don’t have the capacity to learn about all of the resources that are out there or the needs or cultural aspects of all communities…so some sort of resources [would help]. I don’t exactly know what that would look like, but it would be so helpful” (P18).

 

Library workers at all stages of their careers (early, mid, and advanced) and across job positions (library assistants, coordinators and specialists, library directors, managers, and so forth) benefit from understanding how information factors impact acculturation. Working knowledge of the process of cultural adaptation, or immigrant acculturation, can enhance library workers’ awareness of immigrants’ realities. Intentionality in information service remains essential in the current complex and fraught U.S. immigration landscape.

 

Author Contributions


Ana Ndumu: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Data curation, Investigation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing Hayley Park: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing Connie Siebold: Conceptualization, Investigation

 

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Kulbaga, T. A., & Spencer, L. G. (2022). Outrage epistemology: Affective excess as a way of knowing in feminist scholarship. Women's Studies in Communication, 45(2), 273–291. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2021.1926032

 

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Lingel, J. (2015). Information practices of urban newcomers: An analysis of habits and wandering. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 66(6), 1239–1251. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23255

 

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Appendix A


Statement of Consent
By clicking below you confirm that you are at least 18 years of age; you have read this consent form or have had it read to you; your questions have been answered to your satisfaction, and you voluntarily agree to participate in this research study. You may retain a digital copy of this signed consent form for your own records or request a paper copy from the researcher.

 

Start of Block: Demographics

 

Q1 Age range:

 

Q2 In which state do you currently reside?

▼ Alabama (1) ... I do not reside in the United States (53)

 

Q3a What is the highest level of education you have completed?

 

Q3b What degree or credential did you earn? (e.g., B.A. in Education, M.A. in Political Science, J.D., M.L.I.S., M.S.W.)

________________________________________________________________

 

Q4 In which sector do you work?

 

Q5 Job title or position

________________________________________________________________

 

Q6 Number of years in current job position

________________________________________________________________

 

Q7 Number of years in current profession or field

________________________________________________________________

 

Q8 In what country were you born?

________________________________________________________________

 

End of Block: Demographics

 

Start of Block: Concept of immigrant acculturation

 

Q9 Acculturation means:

 

Q10 When it comes to immigrants, acculturation involves changes in:

 

Q16 When it comes to immigrants, acculturation promotes:

 

Q17 When it comes to immigrants, acculturation can be limited by barriers to:

 

Q18 Immigrant acculturation is the same as assimilation:

 

Q19 Immigration acculturation is the same as naturalization:

 

Q20 In terms of length of time, immigrant acculturation typically spans:

 

Q21 Fill in the blank:
 Immigrant acculturation positively impacts information access in the following ways:

________________________________________________________________

 

Q25 Fill in the blank:
 Immigrant acculturation relates to stress and anxiety in the following ways:

________________________________________________________________

 

Q26 Acculturation is necessary for success in a new country.

 

Q27 Library workers can support immigrant acculturation through:

 

Q28 Immigrant acculturation relates to my line of work in the following ways:
________________________________________________________________

 

Q29 I attempt to acculturate with local immigrant community/communities by:

 

Q30 True or False:
In my work, I have witnessed the process of immigrant acculturation.

 

 

Q31 True or False:
I have access to professional development training to better understand immigrant acculturation.

 

Q32 True or False:
I know where to access educational resources to better understand immigrant acculturation.


 

We invite you to participate in a follow-up 20-30 minute interview via Zoom.

 

Interview data: 

 

Interviewees may select pseudonyms at the start of the session. Interviews will take place via videoconference (Zoom). The researchers will conduct the interview from a private location and will encourage each interviewee to also locate a private setting. Interview recordings and transcripts will be de-identified and organized by pseudonyms or participant ID to mask participants’ names and contact information. The sessions will be audio-recorded only and subsequently transcribed. The survey datasets and participant reference/keys will be securely stored when offline and password-protected online. Interview participants will receive a $25 Tango gift card within 2-4 weeks. Please provide your full name and email below if you would like to be contacted for a follow-up interview.

________________________________________________________________

 

Thank you so much for your interest and/or participation in this study. If you have questions regarding any aspect of this study, please visit the study website at [omitted] or contact the researcher at [omitted].

 

 

Appendix B

 

Thank you for taking part in this interview study. Our session will last approximately 20 to 30 minutes and consists of 5 questions. 

 

Do you have any questions before we begin? I have begun recording. Please confirm again that you agree to participate in this interview by stating ‘Yes.’

 

[Begin recording if participant answered ‘Yes’ – Thank participant if answered ‘No’]

 

Excellent - Before I start, I just want to point out that our goal today is to investigate and advance library workers’ philosophies when it comes to immigrant integration. We are interested in sense-making and not necessarily correct terminology.









 

We have now completed the interview. 

 

Thank you for participating. We will process your $25 incentive within the next 2-4 weeks. We will make sure to keep you updated on our progress and share the research findings with you. If you think of any other questions in the interim, please reach us at [omitted], which I have put in the chat.

 

Have a wonderful rest of your day.

 

[Email Zoom recording]

 

 

Appendix C

56 Scales Identified to Enhance Immigrant Acculturation Constructs

 

Scale

Author, Year

A Short Acculturation Scale for Filipino Americans (ASASFA)

Cruz, F. A. D., Padilla, G. V., & Agustin, E. O. (2000).

Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation

Zea, M. C., Asner-Self, K. K., Birman, D., & Buki, L. P. (2003)

Acculturation Attitudes Scale

Berry, J. W., Kim, U., Power, S., Young, M., & Bujaki, M. (1989)

Acculturation Attitudes Scales (Latin and Canadian acculturation attitudes)

Don & Berry (1994)

Acculturation Index

Ward & Kennedy (1994)

Acculturation Questionnaire for Children

Van de Vijver, F. J., Helms‐Lorenz, M., & Feltzer, M. J. (1999)

Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA)

Cuellar, I., Harris, L.C., & Jasso, R.(1980).

Acculturation Scale

Ghuman (1991)

Acculturation Scale American-International Relations Scale (AIRS)

Sodowsky & Plake (1991)

Acculturation Scale for Southeast Asians

J Anderson, M Moeschberger, MS Chen, P Kunn, ME Wewers, R Guthrie (1993)

Acculturation Scale for Vietnamese Adolescents (ASVA)

Nguyen, H. H., & von Eye, A (2002)

Acculturation Strategies Scale

Kosic (1998)

Acculturative Stress Index

Noh & Avison (1996)

African American Acculturation Scale

Landrine & Klonoff (1994)

African American Acculturation Scale Revised (AAAS-R)

LKlonoff & Landrine (2000)

American and Puerto Rican Cultural Involvement Scales

Cortés, D. E., Rogler, L. H., & Malgady, R. G. (1994)

ARSMA-II (30-item)

Cuellar, I., Arnold, B., & Maldonado, R. (1995)

Asian American Acculturation Inventory (AAI)

Flannery, W. P. (1996)

Asian American Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AAMAS)

Gim Chung, R. H., Kim, B. S., & Abreu, J. M. (2004)

Asian Value Scale (AVS)

Kim, Atkinson & Yang (1999)

Behavioral and Value Acculturation Scale

Szapocznik, J., Scopetta, M. A., Kurtines, W., & Aranalde, M. D. (1978)

Bicultural Involvement Questionnaire (BIQ)

Szapocznik, J., Kurtines, W. M., & Fernandez, T. (1980)

Bicultural Stress Scale (BSS)

Romero & Roberts (2003)

Biculturalism/Multiculturalism Experience Inventory

Ramirez (1983)

Bidimensional Acculturation Scale

Marin & Gamba (1996)

Brief Acculturation Scale (A)

Norris, Ford & Bava (1996)

Brief Acculturation Scale (B)

Meredith, Wenger, Liu, Harada & Kahn (2000)

Campisi's 1947 Scale

Campisi (1947)

Chief's 1940 Scale

Chief (1940)

Children's Acculturation Scale

Franco (1983)

Cultural Adjustment Difficulties Checklist (CADC)

Shim, Y. R., & Schwartz, R. C. (2007)

Cultural Attitudes Scale

Rudmin & Ahmadzadeh (2001)

Cultural Lifestyle Inventory

Mondoza (1989)

Cultural Values Conflict Scale (CVCS)

Inman, A. G., Ladany, N., Constantine, M. G., & Morano, C. K. (2001)

Enculturation Measure for Native American Youth

Zimmerman, Ramirez-Valles, Washienko, Walter, and Dyer (1996)

European American Value Scale for Asian Americans (EAVS-SS)

Wolfe, M. M., Yang, P. H., Wong, E. C., & Atkinson, D. R. (2001)

Evaluation of acculturation stress (EBEA)

Urzúa, A., Henríquez, D., Caqueo-Urízar, A., & Smith-Castro, V. (2021)

Greek-American Acculturation Scale

Harris & Verven (1996)

Hazuda Scale

Hazuda, Stern & Haffner (1988)

MASALA Scale

Needham, B. L., Mukherjee, B., Bagchi, P., Kim, C., Mukherjea, A., Kandula, N. R., & Kanaya, A. M. (2017)

Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Inventory (MASI)

Rodriguez, N., Myers, H. F., Mira, C. B., Flores, T., & Garcia-Hernandez, L. (2002)

Multiphasic Assessment of Cultural Constructs-Short Form (MACC-SF)

Cuellar, Arnold, & Gonzalez (1995)

Na Mea Hawai'i Scale American

Rezentes (1993)

Nagaraj biculturalism measure

Nagaraj, N. C., Vyas, A. N., McDonnell, K. A., & DiPietro, L. (2018)

Native American Acculturation Scale (NAAS)

Garrett & Pichette (2000)

Psychological Acculturation Scale (PAS)

Topp, L., Hando, J., Dillon, P., Roche, A., & Solowij, N. (1999)

Scale of Acculturation

Rissel (1997)

Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (SASH)

Marin, G., Sabogal, F., Marin, B. V., Otero-Sabogal, G., & Perez-Stable, E. J. (1987)

Social, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental (SAFE)

Negy, C., Schwartz, S., & Reig-Ferrer, A. (2009)

Sommerlad 1968 original Likert measure

Sommerlad, E. A. (1968)

Stephenson’s (2000) Multigroup Acculturation

Stephenson, M. (2000)

Suinn-Lew Asian Self Identity Acculturation Scale (AKA SL ASIA)

Chun, K. M., Kwan, C. M., Strycker, L. A., & Chesla, C. A. (2016)

Taiwan Aboriginal Acculturation Scale (TAAS)

Cheng, A. T., & Hsu, M. (1995)

The Hispanic Stress Inventory (HSI-I)

Cervantes, R. C., Padilla, A. M., & Salgado de Snyder, N. (1991)

The Revised Hispanic Stress Inventory (HSI-II)

Cervantes, R. C., Fisher, D. G., Padilla, A. M., & Napper, L. E. (2016)

Traditional Behavior Scale

Solomon, T. G. A., & Gottlieb, N.

H. (1999)

Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA)

Ryder, A. G., Alden, L. E., & Paulhus, D. L. (2000)