The Challenge

Books of all kinds play a critical role in children’s development. Unfortunately, there are very few books beyond school textbooks found in most orphanages in Asia. It’s a terrible thing for a child to grow up without having access to books. Having additional books available helps to encourage independent learning, intellectual curiosity, and a lifelong passion for reading. Orphanage headmasters and school administrators often lack the expertise and resources to establish small libraries in their orphanages, resulting in libraries that contain little to no books of interest to children. Children’s books are a luxury to have in Asia and are a rarity in most orphanage and elementary schools.

As the study of English gains popularity across Asia, all students are beginning to study English from a very early age. However, many students, schools, and orphanages have very few English language books available to them. If there are no books to engage children and help and support their English study, their curiosity, motivation, and ability to learn English are all but lost.

The Library Project Approach to Elementary Schools

The Library Project establishes bi-lingual libraries for elementary schools in China and Vietnam. We try to work directly with the local school districts to provide books to all elementary schools in a district. To provide libraries to an entire school district at one time cuts down on logistic costs. Depending on each school's current needs, we provide shelving, furniture, and mats to sit on. Many schools have these items, but lack the books to put on the shelves, or have books so old that they are falling a part. The Library Project without a doubt improves the education of every student in an Elementary School in Asia through the gift of books.

During every Elementary School library project we involve the local community and the children as much as possible. We do this through local community based book-drives that raise awareness of the issues surrounding Elementary Schools. During the construction of the libraries within a school we get the children involved. They help by unpacking the books, setting up mats, and helping to clean the provided space. Then a small party is arranged with educational games, balloons, and crafts.

Books

We have donated over 100,00 books to schools and orphanages in China and Vietnam. We have a goal of donating over 200,000 books by the end of 2009. It is a large but attainable goal.

The vast majority of our books are acquired through community-based book-drives. This not only gets the community involved, but also raises awareness of the realities of countryside schools and orphanages. Ninety percent of the books we donate are in the local language and the other 10% have been in English, Korean, Japanese and Russian. In China as with other developing countries, the study of a second or third language begins at a very young age. Our libraries aim to help children become proficient in both native and regional languages.

The Library Project Results

To date, The Library Project has established over 150 libraries in China and Vietnam. Over 225 libraries are planned in China and Vietnam by the end of 2009. Some of our libraries are small and others are large, but all of our libraries help to improve the education of each and every child that touches their many colorful books.

How You Can Help

Place a Donation — Make a donation towards one of our libraries in a particular country, to the program in general, or leave it up to The Library Project to best allocate your contribution.

Adopt a Library — Sponsor the establishment of one or more libraries.

Volunteer — Learn about volunteer opportunities with The Library Project.

Email Updates — Sign up for our monthly newsletter to get updates on the organization, our programs, and more.