The library serves community members coming from many cultures and countries. Dedicated bilingual library staff bring language and cultural expertise in Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese to the following services:
Programs and events
Libraries offer storytimes, cultural celebrations and other programs in several languages to help the community learn, create, and have fun.
See event calendar
Find library staff who speak your language
Visit the locations page, and use the dropdown menu to filter by language.
Note: Some locations are closed for construction so please refer to the location hours before making a visit.
Community languages collections
Robust community languages collections are located at libraries with staff that speak Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian or Spanish. Materials are available in all formats and for all audiences. Visit the locations page, and use the dropdown menu to filter by language.
Smaller Spanish language collections are located at all other Multnomah county libraries. Audience may be limited to youth materials.
Browse collections in Arabic, French, German, Japanese and Ukrainian at Midland and Central libraries. A Somali collection is available at Capitol Hill Library. Search the catalog and apply the language filters to locate materials or browse recently purchased items.
Language-specific materials are available to place on hold and pick up at another location. The library also has multilingual digital resources available for entertainment, language learning, reading, studying, research, and other needs.
View available resources
Reference help
You can get help finding library materials, using library resources, get help with writing a resume and looking for a job, and setting up an appointment with a tutor or a tech help specialist in your language. Contact us for more information.
Outreach to the community at schools, retirement homes, and other partner organizations
Bilingual and culturally diverse staff meet you where you are by offering programs and events, and share information about the library, at many places in the community.
Learn a new language
Mango Languages is a free online resource that can help you learn a new language. Sign in with your library account for courses in over 40 languages, including Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, French, Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, Swahili, and more. Choose a basic course for an introduction to basic conversation or a complete course to learn more comprehensive language and grammar skills.
For non-English speakers, English courses are available.