(Note: Book Aid International are not to be confused with 'Book Aid', who I believe are a charity that provides Christian literature to areas of need).
I went to this talk mainly for two reasons:
1) I wanted to learn more about Book Aid International, as I'm really lacking knowledge on any book based charities and
2) It was held at the CILIP headquarters in London. I wanted to have a nosey at the building!
I was slightly disappointed by the latter, which was totally my fault - it looked like a nice, impressive building. But I was running very late, and the talk was held in one of the first rooms you come to when your walk through the entrance, so no chance to have a better look! That one room I did see was very nice, however!
The talk was insightful, and really well put together. I ran in five minutes late (thank goodness they'd delayed the start time for a few late-comers, myself included) and threw my sweating self into a chair near the back so no-one would have to hear me pant to death for a few minutes (it's time to hit the gym, sister). People milled around, drinking wine and having nibbles, chatting sociably. Being more on the introvert side of life, and someone not very good at talking to new people (especially after running from the nearest tube station), I extracted my notepad and pen and scribbled some notes down before the talk actually commenced. I scolded myself internally, and made a mental note to check travelling times before going to new places.
We sat in small rows of chairs facing a projector at the front of the room. It was a small, modest talk - which was a good thing. I could both see and hear the whole presentation. Book Aid International are approaching their 60th year as a charity, and as a celebration are planning some exciting new projects based around the children's libraries in some of the places they operate. But I'll talk more about that in a minute. First one of the two ladies giving the presentation, explained who Book Aid International were, and what they did. Here's a exert from their leaflet, 'An Introduction to Book Aid International':
Books Aid International works in partnership with libraries in Africa providing books, resources and training to support an environment in which reading for pleasure, study and lifelong learning can flourish.
They work primarily in Africa, in twelve different countries, but also do work in Palestine. Recent developments from around the 1990's onwards means that:
All the books sent to the libraries, schools, hospitals, universities, prisons and refugee camps are new or unused.
Publishers over print books, it's a known fact. What they don't sell often just gets pulped. Book Aid International attempts to work with publishing houses to salvage these books and send them to places that could really make use of them. But they don't just send them books willy-nilly and expect them to be grateful. They work with the individual libraries (and these can be anything from big, central library buildings to a shipping container in a slum) to choose the books that get sent out. Every year the staff working at these libraries fill in a form. It determines what books have been well used, which books not so much, and the sort of things they'd like more of. For the areas where it is possible, they're working on an online way of doing this, so the libraries can choose specific books online for BAI to send over.
They also work with some local publishers, getting material in local languages. These books are primarily for the children. In secondary school, the lessons are given in English, so the English language books are vital. But to help encourage reading in the first place, local language books are bought so that children can help progress onto the English books. To ensure the publishers that the stock given to Book Aid International won't be re-sold here in Britain, every book is stamped before it is shipped, so it is easy to identify which books are theirs and where they've gone. There's small group of volunteers in the London based packing centre who do this. They sent every 'level' of book, and make sure the necessary ones are up to date. They send books suitable for children, right through and up to textbooks for students and adult readers. They make sure any medical type books are up to date, because they don't just do library work. They've installed 'health hubs' in some libraries and have trained librarians to use the health resources. They have installed computer services for some communities where otherwise it would not be available. They train librarians, and provide training in managing the large amounts of children that visit these libraries. They hold writing workshops in some centres, and sports facilities in others. To summarise they're doing a fabulous job and receive no government funding to do it all.
I realise this is a long post. But bear with me.
Two third of their finding comes from individual donors. People doing fundraising etc. Book Aid International have made it their mission, for their 60 year anniversary, to create 60 more 'children's corners' in their libraries across Africa. 'Children's corners' are areas of the library that are brightly painted, have tables and chairs where they can sit and read (bearing in mind, there may not be much furniture at home), or do some work. They have the right height of shelves and are welcoming, safe areas for children to come to. As I mentioned before, librarians are trained to manage children right from babies to teens, to keep them all happy, so adult library users are not overly-disturbed. There's so many good things about these children's corners, and 60 more of them would be fantastic.
You can check out more of the work Book Aid International do on their...
Website: http://www.bookaid.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookaid
and Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/BookAidInternational
And I think they have a Twitter account too. You'll have to check that one out as Twitter is still a mystery to me!
I'm pretty sure if you wanted to donate, it's easily done via their website. Keep them sending of 500,000 books per year, to places that value them so much. I actually asked if they could come and do a talk at the school, as it could maybe teach the students here that a library is a communal place, where other people have to use the books - basically, it's not good when you wander off with a book and don't bring it back!
It's late. This post probably has big gaps in it, and a whole bunch of stuff I forgot to write. But it's cool. It's bedtime! Work tomorrow!
Over and out.
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