In the coming months, a Milwaukee company will offer 5,000 Spanish-language yellow pages books to the growing Spanish-speaking population in Madison and Dane County.

L.O.R. and Associates of Milwaukee are currently selling ads for the books, which will contain directions and civic information in Spanish as well as a resource guide.

Luis Rodriguez, President of L.O.R. and Associates, thinks a Spanish book of yellow pages is much needed in Madison.

“It’s a lot like Milwaukee; it’s bilingual,” Rodriguez said. This year is the tenth anniversary of when L.O.R. first began making Spanish phone books in Milwaukee, and the book now boasts around 1,000 advertisers.

L.O.R. started production of Madison’s Spanish phone book about three weeks ago, and they already have around 100 companies who have purchased ads. Also, not all of the companies are operated by Hispanics.

“We have a lot of people who are not Hispanics who want to tap into the Hispanic community,” Rodriguez explained.

Rodriguez pointed out that the Hispanic population is hardworking and that economic conditions for the demographic have been improving every year.

From a business standpoint, the yellow pages will be very helpful.

“Anytime you can directly target a certain part of a population, it’s going to be cost effective,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also feels that the Spanish phone book will help allow Hispanic residents of Madison a unique opportunity to find businesses directed toward their needs.

Daniel Barrios, Associate Editor at La Comunidad, a Spanish newspaper in Madison, agrees that the need for Spanish yellow pages is present.

“The numbers of Hispanics have grown in a large number,” Barrios said. La Comunidad currently has 8,000 newspapers in circulation. They also receive large numbers of both Spanish- and English-speaking businesses interested in advertising with their paper.

According to the year 2000 census figures on the City of Madison website, there are 8,512 people of Hispanic origin living in the area.

City departments, such as the Department of Health, are responding more and more to this growing sector of the community.

“Basically, we provide the same services to our Latino population as we do to our other populations,” said Nancy Wanek, public health nurse for the city of Madison. She went on to say that some of the services they offer include translators, Spanish-speaking nurses and brochures in Spanish.

Rodriguez has high hopes for his yellow pages in Madison.

“I’ve got a real good-looking book,” he said.

The Spanish yellow pages will be available late this year or early next, and will be delivered by direct mail.