Maintaining a well-resourced collection is essential for language learners. When considering a collection for language learners, it is important to recognize all aspects of the collection that are impacted and to define the scope of your library's specific collection, as well as the services that will be provided. Will your collection offer book, audiobook, and digital materials; translation and interpretation services for all flyers and staff interactions; and/or translation and interpretation services for all programs?

In beginning the process of supporting language learners in the collection, first you must conduct a community assessment. It is practically and financially impossible to support services in all 7,000 languages across the globe, so you must first determine the demographics of your local area. Knox points out that just because speakers of a specific language might not reside in your service area does not mean they do not use your services. Examining the materials being returned in your location is one way to see which languages the patrons of your library speak (2023). Once the languages and cultures most common in your area have been identified, you must then decide which languages will be supported and to what capacity. The American Library Association's guidelines on a multilingual collection are a good place to start when looking at capacity and decision-making. They state, "it is the responsibility of libraries to provide an equitable level of service to all members of their communities regardless of ethnic, cultural, or linguistic background," and that these services are considered essential and should not be seen as "extra" items (n.d.).

Some languages will be practically easier to support than others, but a language having few resources should not be a deterrence to providing access to the language. In the United States, one of the most common non-English supported languages is Spanish (American Library Association, 2008). Generally speaking, Spanish is considered an "easy" language to support due to the large number of people who speak the language, as well as the number of books published in the language. Another language, such as Somali, is typically harder to support, because fewer people speak the language in the United States and few print Somali-language resources exist locally. As Hill notes, even in libraries which include world language materials, "absent from these world languages lists or collections are Indigenous languages. Indigenous languages seem to be little discussed in journal articles about multilingual collections or services, which instead focus on languages that are generally from other countries" (2018, p. 3).

For some of the harder-to-support languages, or languages which are only spoken sporadically in the area, it can be beneficial to collaborate with other libraries to create a shared catalog of world language materials. This could be a partnership with local cultural and refugee organizations, nearby libraries, libraries with similar demographics, or sister libraries in other countries (American Library Association, n.d.; Hill, 2018; Knox, 2023). Additionally, it is imperative to receive training in world-language collection development and to identify reputable publishers, vendors, and other book distributors. This is because, "when libraries lack linguistic or cultural competence, single sales companies can easily come to play a crucial role, meaning the collection could end up having an ideological bias or containing obsolete or unpopular material" (Hill, 2018, p. 7). By receiving up-to-date and thorough training, the librarians maintain control over their world language collections and what is being communicated through them, giving the staff time to recognize and correct biases as they are noticed instead of relying on someone else to make the change.

Additionally, it is important to note that minority-language speakers, whether or not they are learning the majority language or if they are learning the minority language, also have their own set of information needs which as just as diverse as majority-language speakers. Khokhar mentions that libraries should, "strive to be a space that is relevant, responsive and evolving so that it can represent, affirm and authentically teach students about diverse identities and lived experiences in their local, broader and global communicates" (2020). To maintain relevance in world language collections, weeding becomes essential. This is one area where it is important to listen to your patrons. Do they gravitate towards certain materials? Are there specific works that culture considers as "classics"? Is there a specific way they tend to browse the materials or the building? By thinking critically about the materials, we are able to evaluate who the collection is truly serving and if it is delivering what is expected from it. Khokhar states that weeding, and weeding frequently, "is about taking actions to think critically about the stories and authors who have always been centered and moving towards creating space for multiple perspectives, own voices and responsiveness" (2020).