













































Fostering Virtue-Driven Information Literacy


149

The Benefits and Challenges of 
Developing a Multilingual Library
Stephanie Garrett, Director of Library & Learning Services, Catholic 
International University

ABSTR ACT:  As online instruction allows universities to reach a global 
audience, there is a rising demand to offer courses and resources in 
multiple languages. This conversation session shared participants’ 
collective concerns and hurdles, along with their best practices and 
successes when developing multilingual collections in their libraries.

The purpose of this conversation session is to share our collective 
concerns and hurdles, along with our best practices and successes 
when developing multilingual collections in our libraries. As online 
instruction allows universities to reach a global audience, there is a 
rising demand to offer courses and resources in multiple languages. 
While many publishers have international divisions, this does not 
necessarily mean that non-English resources are made available in 
the US. The American Library Association has published “Guidelines 
for Multilingual Materials Collection Development and Library 
Services to Hispanics,” but these guidelines have not been updated 
since 1990 and do not take into account digital library resources and 
ebooks in non-English languages (ALA 2007). Further, as universi-
ties offer classes taught in Spanish and other languages, this limited 
guidance increases the difficulty libraries face when striving to fulfill 
their mandate to provide “access to collections sufficient in quality, 
depth, diversity, format and currency to the research and teaching 
mission of the institution” (ALA 2006).

The goal for today is to help each other navigate the “expanding 
frontier” of digital access to published works from around the world. 
The session is designed to be interactive, and we will be using Padlet 
to allow both in-person and online attendees to provide input. We 
will begin with introductions and our institutional considerations. 
Then we will discuss benefits and challenges, best practices, preferred 
vendors and resources, and finally where we can find more help.



150    AT L A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

Last night, my university held the official ribbon cutting cer-
emony and changed its name from Catholic Distance University to 
Catholic International University. We are now operating under a 
mandate to “Teach All Nations.” We are a 100% online university 
that was founded in 1983. As a pontifical institute, we have grown 
from being the first online university with the authority to award 
Catechetical Diplomas to offering AA, BA, and MA degrees in Liberal 
Arts, Ecclesial Management, and Theology.

In Fall 2023, we enrolled our first cohort of Hispanic lay ministers 
in an AA in Theology program with a concentration in Catholic Social 
Teaching, to be taught in Spanish. In 2025, we will begin offering 
our MA in Theology program in Spanish. Also, in 2025, we will offer 
our MA in Ecclesial Management in both Italian and Spanish. While 
most of our faculty resides in the United States, we also have faculty 
working from Australia, Chile, Italy, Korea, Mexico, and Spain. Along 
with students in the United States, Catholic International University’s 
enrollment includes students from Canada, Curaçao, the Dominican 
Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Nigeria, and Switzerland.

To view the responses from attendees, or to add your library to 
the conversation, view the Introductions Padlet (https://padlet.com/
sgarrett64/introductions-arqs9ztwsf7rzpva). Twelve attendees from 
eleven institutions responded. Ten of those institutions are develop-
ing multilingual collections in both print and digital; two institutions 
are working on digital-only collections. Language needs include 
Chinese, Dutch, Fijian, French, German, Korean, Samoan, Spanish 
and Tongan. Besides Latin America, libraries are working to service 
students in Africa, Asia, Europe, Fiji, India, and the Pacific Rim.

For Catholic International University, the benefit of developing 
a digital multilingual collection goes beyond simply adding non-
English titles to the library’s holdings. Since we are a completely 
online university, being able to acquire unlimited user access to 
books in Spanish and other languages improves our ability to pro-
vide required and recommended reading materials for students no 
matter their country of residence. Not all students live in areas with 
the First World convenience of Amazon two-day delivery. Providing 
digital access to course materials ensures that students do not fall 
behind while waiting for the arrival of their books. As with all ebooks 
and digital resources, students benefit from improved accessibility, 

https://padlet.com/sgarrett64/introductions-arqs9ztwsf7rzpva
https://padlet.com/sgarrett64/introductions-arqs9ztwsf7rzpva


Conversation Groups    151

accommodation of learning styles through features such as screen 
readers, search features, bookmarks, highlighting and annotation 
tools, and portability of materials between electronic devices. 

We are also working to reduce reliance on non-English digital 
materials of questionable provenance. Beyond the need to better 
understand international copyright law, we face many of the same 
challenges theological institutions face with English titles in theol-
ogy: not all titles are available digitally, titles are frequently out of 
print, digital copies available for institutional use can be difficult to 
find, and pirated material is increasingly pervasive on the internet.

To view the responses from attendees, or to add your library to 
the conversation, view the Benefits and Challenges Padlet (https://
padlet.com/sgarrett64/benefits-challenges-pk29jxfcn3lpvakz). 

At Catholic International University, we use both EBSCO and 
Proquest to purchase Spanish titles and frequently write publishers 
asking them to consider making titles available digitally, hoping that 
one day the squeaky wheel gets greased! Our existing subscription 
to the Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials provides articles in a 
myriad of languages. Subscribing to Digitalia Hispanica has been a 
boon, not only for the wide variety of theology and religion titles 
at a reasonable price, but also for access to the multitude of other 
disciplines included with the subscription. We also make use of the 
AI technology in DeepL translation software (DeepL.com) to help 
students translate open-source material from English to Spanish.

To view the responses from attendees, or to add your library 
to the conversation, view the Best Practices and Preferred 
Resources/Vendor Padlet (https://padlet.com/sgarrett64/
best-practices-preferred-resources-vendors-6rkog93wspjvy0tt).

Special thanks to Christina Torbert from the University of Mississippi, 
Ellen Frost from SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, and Deborah Ortiz-
Rivera from the Pitts Theological Library at Emory for stepping up to 
the mic and sharing their experiences.

https://padlet.com/sgarrett64/benefits-challenges-pk29jxfcn3lpvakz
https://padlet.com/sgarrett64/benefits-challenges-pk29jxfcn3lpvakz
http://DeepL.com
https://padlet.com/sgarrett64/best-practices-preferred-resources-vendors-6rkog93wspjvy0tt
https://padlet.com/sgarrett64/best-practices-preferred-resources-vendors-6rkog93wspjvy0tt


152    AT L A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions 
(IFLA), Standing Committee on Copyright & Legal Matters (CLM): 
https://www.ifla.org/units/clm/

International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations 
(IFRRO): https://ifrro.org/ 

Copyright Advisory Network: https://www.librarycopyright.net/

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty 
(WCT): https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/wct/

U.S. Copyright Office, International Issues: https://www.copyright.
gov/international-issues/

REFERENCES

American Library Association (ALA). 2007. Guidelines for Multilingual 
Materials Collection and Development and Library Services. 
American Library Association. Accessed May 24, 2024, https://www.
ala.org/rusa/sections/rss/rsssection/rsscomm/spanishspeaking/
guidelinesmultilingual.

American Library Association (ALA). 2006. Standards for Libraries in 
Higher Education. American Library Association. Accessed January 
5, 2024, http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/standardslibraries.

https://www.ifla.org/units/clm/
https://ifrro.org/
https://www.librarycopyright.net/
https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/wct/
https://www.copyright.gov/international-issues/
https://www.copyright.gov/international-issues/
https://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/rss/rsssection/rsscomm/spanishspeaking/guidelinesmultilingual
https://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/rss/rsssection/rsscomm/spanishspeaking/guidelinesmultilingual
https://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/rss/rsssection/rsscomm/spanishspeaking/guidelinesmultilingual
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/standardslibraries

