By LISA AURAND

Nieca Nowels, adult services manager for the Westerville Public Library, knew she had to do something.

Nowels had little to offer Somali students who came to the library looking for information on their culture and heritage.

"What few books we did have were always checked out ," Nowels said.

Up until last month, the library had just 47 titles, mostly youth-level materials. The tiny collection just wasn't big enough to serve Westerville's Somali-speaking community.

Last fall, about 38 percent of Westerville City Schools' 1,200 student English as a Second Language population spoke Somali as their first language, district officials said. The library and the school district boundaries are identical.

"With the numbers of those patrons coming in of that heritage, it was really something that it was time to do," Nowels said.

She talked to Tricia Ross, head of collection development, who managed to locate a Toronto-based supplier that had a number of titles. The library ordered 40 new books and DVDs, nearly doubling the size of the collection.

Even before the new materials were released to the public, holds were placed on two of the DVDs, library spokeswoman Linda Wilkins said.

The two reserved titles were Somali Voices, which features testimonies from over 100 people who fled Somalia because of war, and Your Guide to Somali Culture, which explains the attitudes, values and traditions of the Somali people.

Also included were books on the economic conditions, politics, government and the role of women, as well as songs, music, folktales and Somali poetry, Wilkins said.

Some of the books are in Somali, some are bilingual, and some are written in English about the history, culture, and customs of the countries where Somali is spoken.

The materials were delivered last month and were placed in downstairs in the new book area last week, Wilkins said, but most have yet to be checked out.

"We've placed them in a spot in our library that will draw attention to them," she said.

Nowels said she hopes the collection, which they plan to continue expanding, helps Westerville's Somali-speaking population to feel welcome in the community.

"I'm hoping that, as more and more (titles) are published, that we'll be able to purchase some of those," Nowels said. "It's an area that we hope to develop and grow."

The titles are entered in the library catalog under the heading "Somali language materials" and can be viewed and reserved on the library's Web site, westervilelibrary.org.

"With the numbers of those patrons coming in of that heritage, it was really something that it was time to do."

--Nieca Nowels