English or Spanish? Went to the library today, and the self-check out now has a "English or Spanish option." I looked around hard, and didn't note any Latinos in the library. In fact, I can't ever recall seeing one of those short squat indigenous looking women with their gaggle of children at the library, though they are always in evidence at the supermarket one block down the street. I didn't get angry at their sop to inclusiveness, but it seemed kind of pointless. I don't think too many Latinos use the public library system in Portland, the most common foreign language I hear is Chinese. The Multnomah county (basically Portland) area is only 7.5% Latino. In addition, our branch library has almost no Spanish language books (the main library probably does-and they buy their software centrally, so that can explain why they would prompt for Spanish even though no Spanish speakers come to read Spanish language books at this library). And as I've noted, I go to the library at least once a week, and there simply aren't that many Latino's speaking Spanish in the library anytime I go there (as I've said, some Asian immigrants are in evidence). In addition, though the mainstream pundits always tell us how hard-working Latinos are, their kids have very high drop out rates, so I wouldn't be surprised if they don't use the libraries as their proportion of the population would indicate (they don't use National Parks either-to the horror of the Park Service. Pretty soon the vegan movement will bemoan the lack of minorities-what next, vegetarian lard & chitlins?). Now, it's not a big deal, but this sort of thing makes me wonder, has anyone tried to calculate how many minutes a year are wasted in aggregate by English speakers selecting between English and Spanish? (my bank does this too, how many times you have come to the automated answering system that prompts you?)