The long-term goal is for the Brazilian people to be persuaded through the Central Route, but gaining the awareness and interest of the group through the Peripheral Route was our first tactic. We knew that we would need both adult and young adult bilingual Brazilian volunteers to help us brainstorm and to assist with programs. Talking with community members would help us to understand the culture and needs of the Brazilians in Northingham. The more we could learn, the better we could structure programs that would aim for high elaboration-likelihood. Since some bilingual Brazilian adults already came to the library, we put up flyers and spoke to people we had come to know. We also posted flyers at the Brazilian Community Center. The library staff recruited bilingual young adults by providing both motivation and ability. The high school principal allowed us to visit the school's bilingual Brazilian youth. For motivation, we were sure to emphasize that volunteer hours are looked upon favorably by college admission committees. For ability, we tried to entice volunteers by offering special computer usage time.
We arranged a "Brazilian Saturday" at the Northingham Free Public Library to welcome new Brazilian community members. Showing an interest in them helped to create the positive attitude necessary for long-term behavior change. To publicize the event, we advertised in local Brazilian newspapers, on cable television, and on Brazilian websites. We also placed bilingual posters throughout the city in Brazilian offices, city government offices, places of worship, schools, the Brazilian Community Center and, of course, our library.
Our event was held in the library parking lot and in the building itself. Since persuasion tactics of the Peripheral Route often include music and other attention-getting devices, our guests enjoyed Brazilian music and Brazilian food. The library's new collections of Portuguese books, Brazilian videos and music, and ELS materials were displayed in prominently placed exhibits inside the library. Attendees were seen browsing through the materials and chatting with the Brazilian library volunteers who were seated by the exhibits. The volunteers were both adults and high school youth. Attendees learned that young adult and adult volunteers would also be serving as a consistent Brazilian presence at the library, and that the hours of their availability were posted on the library website.
Since the Peripheral Route notes that the presence of a familiar figure can often draw the attention of people who would not normally listen to a message, the planning committee for the event brainstormed about the right person or people to present information to the crowd. Although drawn to the event partly by the Peripheral Route of this individual's reputation, we knew that valuing the speaker's words might precipitate the motivation necessary for the beginning of Central Route persuasion.
The Viera family was our choice. Alberto Viera, owner of a large local Granite business, opened the formal portion of the day. Speaking in Portuguese, Mr. Viera welcomed the crowd to the library and introduced both the library staff and his family. He then announced the forthcoming Brazilian Community Lecture Series which would be geared toward the needs of new immigrants. Mr. Viera tried to hook the crowd by noting that he would be the first speaker, and that he would be sharing the secrets to his success in the Northingham community.
He then turned the microphone over to his wife, Dr. Rosaria Viera, a local pediatrician and member of the Library board, who discussed some of the topics of the Lecture Series.
Dr. Viera mentioned that she would be giving the health services lecture. She encouraged people to speak with her at the "Brazilian Saturday" if they had any specific health services they would like her to discuss in her lecture.
Their teenage son and daughter then worked together to educate the crowd about the library's offerings. Alberto, Jr. spoke in Portuguese, while Martina followed his comments in English. Although some in the crowd may not have understood her, those community members who did not speak Portuguese learned from her. Martina's presence, and the event as a whole, taught both English and non-English speaking people a lesson. Those whose first language was English, and had not understood any part of the speeches to this point, had the opportunity to learn the daily struggles that non-English speaking people face and to value hearing words in their own language. The Portuguese audience saw that this young woman had been able to learn English, and many later commented that her example motivated them to start learning and to encourage their children to do the same.
Alberto, Jr. and Martina explained the library's recent efforts for the Brazilian community:
After answering a few questions, the Viera family thanked the library staff and the audience. The event concluded with lively discussion as the crowd enjoyed Brazilian coffee and pastry.
When the library staff and volunteers met on Monday morning, we were all quite pleased with the results of our "Brazilian Saturday" event. We were optimistic that the next year would be a good one for both the Northingham Free Public Library and the Brazilian immigrant community.