Adult Services Associate Luis Morelos talks with English Language Learning students during a weekly class at the Joliet Public Library’s Ottawa Street Branch.
The Joliet Public Library is expanding resources and programming for Spanish-speaking residents with a new Spanish-language book club, additional free English Language Learning (ELL) classes and one-on-one English tutoring.
“One of our goals is to make the library more accessible for Spanish-speaking residents,” said Megan Millen, executive director of the Joliet Public Library. “We continually look for ways to deepen our connection to the community we serve, and these programs reflect the diversity of our population.”
The library’s adult services staff see the impact of that work firsthand.
“We have seen an increasing interest in Spanish-language programs,” said Ivan Padilla, adult services ELL associate. “More people are taking advantage of the free English classes, often motivated by a desire to improve their job opportunities, go to school or become a U.S. citizen.”
Juanita, who works at a restaurant and speaks Spanish, has attended the library’s ELL classes for several years.
She said she used to be afraid to answer the phone at work because she worried callers wouldn’t understand her. She previously struggled to help her child learn English before starting school.
Now she’s comfortable having conversations in English, she said.
“You have to keep at it,” Juanita said. “Don’t give up. I know it is hard. For me, it has not been easy. But I keep going. I don’t want to quit.”
The ELL classes were previously offered only at the Ottawa Street Branch. Library staff recently expanded the classes to both library branches and added one-on-one English tutoring sessions. The library also offers a weekly conversation group for patrons looking to practice their English.
The library’s efforts extend beyond language-learning opportunities to the resources available to Spanish-speaking patrons. As part of the effort to strengthen the library’s Spanish-language collection, Padilla and Heather Velazquez, a youth services associate, traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2025 to explore books from a wider range of publishers and select materials for the library.
The librarians personally selected 231 Spanish-language materials for the library that add greater depth and variety to the collection. The library’s Spanish-language collection includes more than 4,000 items, with materials available at each branch.
The expanded collection supports a Bilingual Family Storytime on Wednesday evenings at the Ottawa Street Branch, as well as a new Spanish-language book club for adults at the Black Road Branch.
“We want the book club to be a place where Spanish-speaking adults can enjoy books in their own language and connect with other readers in the community,” said Adult Services Associate Luis Morelos. “I hope Spanish-speaking patrons enjoy it, and that it helps them become more familiar with our Spanish collection and other resources we offer that they might not have known about.”
The new book club, Entre las Páginas, meets monthly at the Black Road Branch. The group is open to adults and is conducted in Spanish. Registration and information about the book club and other programs are available at jolietlibrary.org.
About the Joliet Public Library
The Joliet Public Library provides resources to inspire all patrons to read, explore, ask and discover. For more information, visit jolietlibrary.org or call 815-740-2660.