DECATUR - Patricia Vargas likes to read for personal enjoyment and to her children but has a difficult time reading English-language books because Spanish is her first language.

"Some of the books in English have a lot of hard words for me," she said.

So when Decatur Public Library acquired a new collection of Spanish-language materials, mostly geared toward adults, Vargas was quick to check out a book that provided an easier understanding for her.

"I like (the collection) because I can read in my own language," she said.

With a $3,000 state grant, the library has been able to increase its collection of Spanish-language materials in the library and on the bookmobiles by 119 books. The collection was revealed in the summer.

The books are mostly nonfiction and in Spanish only, with a few bilingual books, and include a variety of topics from citizenship to child-rearing, computers to health and biographies to current events, including a book on presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

"We realized we have a growing Spanish-speaking population, and we needed to address that," city librarian Lee Ann Fisher said. "We hope people utilize the collection so we'll be able to expand our service."

The library has an adequate collection of Spanish and bilingual books for children, but adults inadvertently were excluded.

"We already had some Spanish language fiction books," said John Wylder, extension division of the library, "but we were lacking nonfiction books."

A majority of the newly acquired books touch on daily living issues, which may aid the Latin community in becoming more connected to the area, Wylder said. The books are searchable through the library's catalog system, marked as "Spanish Language Materials."

Wylder said the library is hoping to continue purchasing more Spanish-language materials, possibly in nonprint form.

Baby TALK's Macon County Family Literacy program meets the needs of families whose second language is English.

The program provides literacy classes for the children and their parents, encourages family-to-family interaction and incorporates a library component, giving Spanish, English and bilingual children's books to families, said Cindy Bardeleben, family literacy coordinator for Baby TALK.

"It's a priority for us to provide literacy in the home," she said. She added that while English books help them learn the language, Spanish books allow families a better understanding as they are "more comfortable reading them."

Vargas has been a part of the literacy program for eight years and finds the new Spanish books help her with her educational studying in the program.

"I hope (the library) will have more in the future," she said.

"It's nice to have both available to them," Bardeleben said of the new collection. "I think (the Spanish-language materials) opens up a new population who can use the library that are typically underserved.

"This is great ¦ that these families can take advantage of the books to better themselves."

Alicia Spates can be reached at aspates@herald-review.com or 421-6986.