Articles Tagged with English language

Published on: February 13, 2017

Foreign Language Services for non-English Speakers at Oregon Public Libraries

By Laura Orr

Multnomah County Library (MCL) patrons know that materials, signs, events, and librarians bring multi-lingual expertise to their patrons, but did you know that the Multnomah County Library and other public libraries around Oregon (and likely other states) also provide “language line” service to their patrons.

I recently asked MCL if they still have the service and here was their response:

“Thank you for contacting Multnomah County Library about the “Language Line” service. We do still use telephone interpretation services to help us assist patrons who may not be fluent in English. I’m sorry that information isn’t readily available on our website–I will suggest that it be added.

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Published on: August 6, 2014

How to Drive a Legal Editor Mad: To Verb is Human and/or To Adverb Divine?

By Laura Orr

An OSB editor takes to task users of the term “and/or” – and makes a practical suggestion on how to avoid driving your editor mad:

“…. So how do you avoid this problem? The answer, as the muttering editor will tell you, is to simply say what you mean. If you mean or, say or; if you mean and, say and; if you mean one or the other or both, say just that. For example, the defendant may be charged with unlawful arrest or malicious prosecution, or both….” [Link to the OSB Legal Pubs blog post and/or.]