African Library Project

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The African Library Project (ALP) is a California-based private, nonprofit, charitable group, operating internationally. The African Library Project's mission is to create school libraries and community libraries in sub-Saharan Africa, primarily Botswana and Lesotho. Recently, ALP has partnered with South Africa to begin creating libraries there.

ALP accomplishes its objective by partnering with a variety of other U.S. organizations: churches, schools, scout troops, youth groups like Leo Clubs and Key Clubs, and other civic organizations to run book drives and fund shipping costs. ALP also partners with organizations in Africa to coordinate distribution of the libraries to their intended destinations. These partners include Peace Corps volunteers, education ministries and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

African schools and other agencies requesting libraries must demonstrate a commitment to developing these community resources. Most African cultures have a strong oral tradition, but there is a strong movement to develop a "reading culture" as well. Given the scarcity of books in sub-Saharan Africa, the methodologies and best practices associated with establishing and maintaining public libraries is generally an alien concept. Teachers and administrators of the target schools are given a manual on managing a library that was developed by Volunteers Service Organization (VSO). They complete an application process, which describes the needs and includes letters of request from teachers, students and sponsoring agencies, and documentation of the efforts being made to support the library (erecting a building, renovating a room, building shelves, etc.).

Once an African community's application is accepted, they are matched by the African Library Project with a U.S. book drive volunteer who will collect and ship books to meet their needs.

[edit] The role of U.S. book drive volunteers

To create a library, U.S. volunteers organize a local book drive to collect donations of gently used books that are suitable for African readers. The book drive organizers then sort, pack and ship the books via sea container to a designated African partner, who distributes the books to specific communities.

A typical small library is one thousand (mostly paperback) books. As of this writing (December, 2007), the cost of shipping 1,000 books to their African destination is about $450, including $200 in U.S. domestic postage to mail the books to a consolidation point in New Orleans, LA, by USPS Media Mail, and $250 sent to ALP to defray the costs of container shipping.

[edit] Examples of Successful Projects

Three fourth graders collected nearly 8,000 books without the help of adult volunteers. The three girls from Arundel School in San Carlos, California, also raised $2,000 to mail the books. With help from their friends, they sorted, packed and shipped 4,000 books to provide library collections in Botswana for Maitlamo, Ipeleng, Digawana and Maranyane Primary Schools. They gave local charities the 4,000 books that weren't suitable for Africa and donated their leftover shipping money to the African Library Project.