Sophea Chim set out on a mission last month to increase the already growing collection of books in Khmer, the official language of Cambodia, for the Long Beach Public Library.

She spent three days carefully inspecting the shelves of nine different bookstores in the bustling capital city of Phnom Penh. She searched through hundreds of titles and subjects and looked through the library’s extensive Khmer search index on the LBPL online catalog to ensure that she was not purchasing books that the library already carried. In the end, Chim flew back to Long Beach with over 500 new books in a variety of subjects ranging from traditional music, traditional Cambodian cooking, graphic novels for children and teens, picture books, and modern and ancient Cambodian history.

Five hundred Khmer language books are being prepared by Sophea Chim, LBPL data clerk, as she goes through the books at the Long Beach Public Library In Long Beach Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova

Chim is a staff member of the United Cambodian Community of Long Beach and a Long Beach Public Library data clerk who, with the help of a Library Services and Technology grant, is helping the library expand its collection of books in Khmer while also doing community outreach.

For over a decade, the LBPL has been working to increase its collection of books in Khmer and this is not the first time librarians have crossed oceans to grow their collection. In 2019, Senior Librarian Jennifer Songster brought home over 1,300 new titles, CDs, posters and puzzles, spending over $14,000. This time, the Library Services and Technology grant, administered through the California State Library, allotted $5,000 for book purchases, Chim spent about $3,000.

“We’ve done a lot of work connecting the Cambodian community and building this collection,” said Songster. “Ideally, we hope to continue going back every two to four years to keep the collection fresh.”

The new titles will be added to the Mark Twain Neighborhood Library  of the LBPL located in Cambodia Town, home to the largest public library collection of Khmer books in the United States. Since it first opened in 2007, the Mark Twain branch, at 1401 E. Anaheim St., has made great strides to serve the city’s Cambodian population and has now collected over 5,100 books in Khmer.

The Long Beach Public Library’s Mark Twain Neighborhood Library In Long Beach Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. The library in Cambodia Town will be receiving 500 Khmer language books. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova

Long Beach is home to the largest concentration of Cambodians outside of their home country. For Chim, this project means connecting with her own community.

She was born, raised and educated in Cambodia before moving to Long Beach in 2017 and says that her favorite thing has been speaking to community members who have been positively impacted by the Khmer resources offered by the LBPL.

“I spoke to a student that mentioned that they have had difficulty with finding (Khmer) resources in the United States, they could not find research about Cambodia or Cambodian people. The fact that we have this collection has made it easier for them to find important information,” said Chim.

In addition to having the largest collection of Khmer books in the U.S., the LBPL is also the only library that has its Khmer book collection cataloged and indexed. This is due to the grant-funded Khmer Cataloging Project which allows for library staff to sort books by specific subjects and categories. According to the LBPL Cataloging Librarian Amber Wu, this project will increase accessibility for the community to find books in their language and that interest them the most.

The new titles will be available for checkout by mid-spring and library staff expect to have the cataloging completed for the existing collection by summer 2022.