Since Catholic Charities started relocating international refugees to the Prospect Park apartments in Whitehall about a decade ago, the Baldwin Borough public library staff has watched the refugees become one of its largest user groups.

That's because the Baldwin library is within walking distance of the apartment complex, which is located off Prospect Road.

So, to better serve them, the library recently started an English as a Second Language collection.

The effort was made possible by a $2,000 literacy grant from Verizon secured by Kristin Burniston, who had been the part-time teen librarian at Baldwin and is now the children's librarian at the Whitehall Public Library,

At Baldwin, Ms. Burniston said she worked with a number of the teen refugees who used the library and sat on its teen advisory board.

Though her contact was mostly with the teen refugees, the ESL collection is geared toward their parents and other adult refugees.

"The kids have a great resource in the school district. We aimed the section more at the adults who don't necessarily have the resources," Ms. Burniston said. "Most of the books are about learning basic English, about what to say when you go on a job interview."

The intitial swell of refugees to Prospect Park were from Bosnia, but in recent years they have included people from a variety of countries, including some of the so-called "lost boys" of Sudan.

The collection includes DVDs and numerous reference books teaching the English language and novels, biographies, books about American culture and occupations. There are also materials to help prepare for the Testing of English as a Foreign Language exam, which universities require of international applicants.

"When the boys from Sudan came, they were really interested in getting an education and they looked for these," said Joyce Chiappetta, Baldwin's library director.

Items were selected for the collection with the help of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, which operates an English as a second language program at the apartments, Ms. Burniston said.