+44 (0) 1273 386849Loving Your Library Means More Than Saying It: The Importance of Multi-Language Library Catalogues
Managing a library often feels like learning a new language – not just library-speak, but the subtle systems and decisions that shape how people feel when they walk through the door. Every label, category, and catalogue entry sends a message. The question is: what is it saying?
In libraries, love can manifest in several ways. Not just through displays or heart-shaped bookmarks, though those are lovely too, but in more lasting, less visible ways. Sometimes, it’s in multi-language library catalogues that reflects the community it serves.
We’ve recently introduced custom language functionality into our system, making it easier for libraries to communicate in the languages their users understand. But libraries have always spoken many languages – not just verbal or written, but the language of care, presence, and thoughtful, inclusive practice.
This post explores how the systems behind a library – classification, description, organisation – can become languages of love. Not just functional tools, but daily acts of connection.
The Language of Authenticity
To be meaningful, library communication must feel human. It’s not just about tone, it’s about making space for honesty, difference, and all kinds of reading. Many young people describe libraries as the only space they could truly be themselves, especially on hard days. Librarian and advocate Mychal Threets recalled:
“If I was having a bad day, if I was having a good day, I could cross that threshold and just be me…They appreciated my presence and my existence.”
That’s authenticity: not a slogan, but a feeling. A relationship built through warmth, humour, and trust – both in digital and physical spaces. That means meeting people where they are, whether that’s in a TikTok comment thread or a conversation about whether comics count as “real books.” (Spoiler: they do.)
The Language of Inclusion
Multilingual signage. Translated welcome postcards. Storytime in more than one language. These small gestures say something enormous: We see you. You belong here.
Our new SLLS language feature supports this kind of love-in-action. You can now customise terms and headings into the languages your users speak. This echoes inspiring work like Italy’s Mamma Lingua project, which encourages shared reading in native languages to support family integration and bilingual development.
But language inclusion isn’t only about words on a page. It’s also about how we communicate, and who we assume we’re speaking to.
It’s there in Braille collections and tactile maps, in Sign Language story sessions, and in captions that make digital content accessible to D/deaf users. It’s in clear signage that avoids jargon, uses symbols consistently, and considers font, contrast, and reading level. It’s in visual guides that support autistic or anxious visitors – and in library notices that reassure rather than overwhelm.
During guided tours adapted for visitors with visual impairments at the Bibliothèque publique d’information in Paris, speaker and tour guide Rose‑Marie Stolberg invites participants to experience exhibitions differently, encouraging them to “visit” through sound and imagination. As she beautifully puts it:
“Visit with your ears, to learn, see and imagine while listening.”
Inclusion isn’t just about multi-language library catalogues; it means rethinking the way we define reading, expression, and access and making sure no one is left behind.
The Language of Belonging
For many, the library is the first place they’ve felt truly welcome. Motaz Amer, a national award-winning young activist and refugee, once described it as the vital first step in finding connection and belonging after arriving in a new country.
“It all starts from library.”
It was the first place he went when he arrived in the UK – where staff smiled, explained how things worked, and made him feel not just supported, but seen. Later, he would say:
“I belong to my library.”
These aren’t grand gestures, but they shape lives. Sometimes it’s a shelf that makes sense without needing to ask for help. Sometimes it’s a registration process that feels simple rather than intimidating. Often, it’s just a conversation that begins with welcome, not assumption.
Young people often describe libraries as “a safe space that belonged to everyone,” or “a very desirable place to be” – not because of what they offer to buy, prove, or achieve, but because they offer something rarer: time, space, and choice.
The Language of Rights
Loving your library also means respecting the rights of those who use it — especially the seldom-heard. That means making space not just to be present, but to be heard and to have influence.
The Lundy Model helps us remember that voice isn’t just about speaking – it’s about being invited to contribute in a way that works for you. In Malta, a government-developed app lets children share their views through drawings, videos, and voice notes. It removes literacy as a barrier and honours multiple modes of expression.
As one child put it during an author visit:
“Don’t silence our stories.”
Another teen said:
“There’s nothing for people like us. We’re not kids, but we’re not adults either.”
Libraries that act on these insights are speaking love through accountability.
The Language of Organising
It might not sound romantic, but cataloguing is one of the strongest love languages we have. It’s how we ensure that people can find what they need – without having to ask, explain, or feel they don’t belong.
When you relabel a series that’s hard to find, you’re saying: I want this to reach the right reader.
When you add a second language to a spine label, or reorder your fiction so it reflects how your students browse, you’re saying: Your way of reading matters here.
When you retire an outdated or harmful subject heading and replace it with something more inclusive, you’re doing quiet repair work that speaks volumes.
When you include multi-language library catalogues, you’re saying: You deserve to navigate this space in the language that feels most comfortable to you.
As we explored in our post on cataloguing and classification, classification is never neutral. But it can be caring. It can be inclusive. It can be done with the reader in mind, especially those who don’t see themselves reflected in traditional systems.
None of this may seem particularly revolutionary. But it’s the slow, careful work that makes the difference between a library that says you’re allowed here – and one that says this was made for you.
We Love Libraries!
This Valentine’s Day, we’re recognising the everyday work that helps libraries speak care – through thoughtful systems, inclusive signage, and shelf labels that make sense to the people using them. You don’t need hearts, chocolate, and flowers to show your library is a place of welcome.
At SLLS, we believe that the systems behind a library can say just as much as its displays. If you’d like to explore how your catalogue could better reflect the communities you serve, we’d love to show you what’s possible. Loving your library really does mean more than saying it — and investing in multi-language library systems is one way to put that love into practice.
Get in touch to arrange a demo, and let’s talk about the kind of library you’re building.
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