Mock Citizenship Interviewers
Toledo Lucas County Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
TLCPL is an active participant in our area’s welcoming work, serving as the third member of a city/county/library team called Welcome Toledo Lucas County (WTLC). WTLC became the first city and county to reach tandem Certified Welcoming status with Welcoming America. As part of that team, the library acts as a primary administrator of WTLC and connector to the many immigrant and refugee organizations in the area, providing services to meet their needs and, thereby, the collective needs of the New American community.
In the spirit of continuous improvement, the library’s New American Services work expanded in 2023 to include a new Mock Citizenship Interview service whereby a team of trained librarians helps aspiring citizens prepare for the naturalization interview and test with comprehensive and realistic interview preparation.
Challenge/Opportunity
Toledo and Lucas County have a long, proud history of welcoming immigrants. Locally, several like-minded community organizations tend to work independently for the specific populations they serve. Their various missions and associated processes make it difficult for New Americans to navigate disparate systems and services.
As part of the library’s work with WTLC and the creation of a New American Services specialist position, TLCPL remains a strong connector for organizations working in this realm. In conversations with these groups, it was apparent that the library did not need to replicate services but to identify and fill present gaps.
Utilizing its pre-existing strong relationships, the library developed the Mock Citizenship Interviews when there was a need that couldn't be filled by the other existing organizations. The library promoted the service directly to the people who needed it and tailored the experience to mimic what the interviewee would find in the formal interview.
Key Elements of Innovation
Working with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency, Mely Arribas-Douglas, Toledo Library’s New American Services specialist, obtained all necessary documents and permissions to develop and implement this process. Allison Fiscus, the library’s Adult Services Coordinator, crafted a team of librarians with interest and/or experience in working with New American communities. Together, Mely and Allison trained and built a system for interview request intake that spread across the county.
With intent, the mock citizenship interviews replicate details of the process, such as using an iPad and digital pen to write, matching the questions asked to those from the official interview, and making introductions that imitate what a USCIS officer would do during an interview.
Achieved Outcomes
Training began in January and included webinars, meetings with USCIS, practice interviews, and interview observation. Seven librarians participated and learned how to facilitate the interviews, including various aspects of the naturalization test and interview process, civics and history questions, language proficiency, and interview etiquette.
The new service launched in July 2023, and between then and the end of the year, more than 30 mock citizenship interviews were provided to aspiring U.S. citizens in Lucas County.
Through our promotion of the service, we grew or fostered relationships across the immigration and refugee service provider network which has allowed us to expand library services to these communities in ways that were previously not possible.
