Helping Undocumented Patrons Hold On To Their Dreams

The Evelyn S. Field Library at Raritan Valley Community College provides an information station for undocumented patrons

By Jennifer Sulligan

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2017 issue of NJLA NEWSletter. It is republished with permission from the author and the NJLA NEWSletter.

On November 29, 2016, Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) President Michael McDonough issued an important message to students via the college newspaper, The Raritan Valley Record. The message, delivered a week after the 2016 presidential election, addressed the wave of anti-minority actions occurring on college campuses, and underlined RVCC’s commitment to inclusion and diversity:

“We will not tolerate any acts of discrimination or hostility towards our students or towards our colleagues. We will celebrate the rich diversity of our student body and of our faculty and staff. We will encourage all students, regardless of age, income, national origin, gender identity or gender expression, race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability to join our community and to feel safe and secure. We will promote acceptance and civility. We will value critical inquiry, creative expression, and the creation of new knowledge. We will affirm that Raritan Valley Community College promotes the transformative values of accessible, affordable public education. We will imagine a campus and a community where all are honored and equal and where the possibilities of achievement are endless.”

The Spring 2017 semester was just beginning at RVCC as the 45th U.S. president was settling into office, spreading uncertainty across diverse populations. RVCC’s Evelyn S. Field Library is unique in that it serves not only students and faculty but also members of the community, thanks to its lending agreements with both the Somerset and Hunterdon County Library Systems. Carina Gonzalez, RVCC’s outreach librarian, noted that undocumented students—current and prospective—are in need of assistance. They want access to information: what their rights are, how to get started in college, the scholarships that are available to them, legal services, health resources, access to on-campus support, and immigration services. She tasked me and a colleague, adjunct librarian Suzanne Kosempel, with collaborating on creating an information station for undocumented students.

Suzanne, Carina, and I conducted most of the research at the end of RVCC’s Spring 2017 semester. We outlined the main areas of informational need: the basics of citizenship and immigration, help available to students on the RVCC campus, education resources (scholarships, NJ state tuition information), legal services, support for immigrant youth, temporary protected status, green cards (indicating permanent residence status), health resources, and diversity resources. We bookmarked links, printed guides and applications, and met a couple of times to review our findings and refine our focus. We made multiple copies of applications and single-page documents of note, so that patrons could take them home. We assembled lengthier documents and handbooks into binder form, which we keep at the information station for review by patrons and staff. We created a libguide to house all of the helpful links in one place. We also assembled three handouts based on our findings: “On-Campus Help for Undocumented Students,” a guide to help our undocumented RVCC students navigate their experience here; “Six Things Undocumented Students Need to Know about College,” a resource for prospective college students; and “Information and Resources for the Undocumented,” a brochure containing all of the links found in the libguide.

Although the opening of the station was delayed as a result of the increasing uncertainty surrounding Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), we made the decision to provide whatever help and information we could that was valid and reliable. We came up with a multimedia display consisting of the brochures, one-page handouts, and comprehensive resource binder. We posted to the library’s website the libguide containing e-versions of all the printed material, as well as links to more information.

The station is situated in a quiet, unobtrusive area of the library, within sight of the reference and circulation desks, and next to the outreach librarian’s office. This placement accomplishes two goals: it provides patrons with a space that is both private and conducive to reading the materials, and it allows staff to provide assistance to those who need it.

A press release heralded the arrival of the information station, as did announcements on the library’s website and Lion’s Den (RVCC’s online portal). We sent announcements to RVCC’s Admissions Department, Multicultural Affairs Office, dean of Student Services, Financial Aid, and New Jersey Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF), and email blasts to students, faculty, and staff. Additionally, we placed posters around campus and at the Hunterdon and Somerset County Libraries.

We unveiled the information station on Monday, September 25. The release of this valuable resource for RVCC’s undocumented patrons came about soon after the announcement that INSIGHT into Diversity magazine had, for the fourth time, honored the college with the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award. RVCC was the only college in New Jersey to earn the award this year.

So far, reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Richellen Dashield, dean of Multicultural Affairs at RVCC, called the final product, “a wonderful project that serves as a model of inclusive excellence.” Patrons slowly but surely began to take the available brochures and handouts provided. As word spreads, we expect its use to increase greatly.

Support will not end with completion of the station. Immigration attorney Sonia Frontera is scheduled to appear in the Robeson Room of the RVCC library on October 17 at 1:00 pm. The purpose of her visit is to offer support to the community about DACA and Temporary Protected Status (TPS), immigration status, and protected rights. Private, one-on-one consultations will also be available during the session.

For more information, please visit the Information and Resources For the Undocumented libguide at http://library.raritanval.edu/Undocumented.

Jennifer Sulligan is an adjunct librarian at Raritan Valley Community College’s Evelyn S. Field Library. She holds an M.L.I.S. from Rutgers University. She recently joined the executive board of the Hunterdon County Librarians Association as the organization’s secretary. She can be reached at jennifer.sulligan@raritanval.edu.