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Donate
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Book Certificates A donation of $100 will enable a South African librarian to purchase approximately 25 new books. Many rural libraries have absolutely no budget for new materials and are stocked entirely with donated books from abroad. This means that they have no books in their native languages, no books written by African authors for African audiences and few books written specifically for developing countries. What books they do have are often out-of-date and in poor condition. In 1999, WLP witnessed the opening of a new library in Zimbabwe stocked with donated books from the U.S. When the enthusiastic community members rushed into the library, the first thing that hit them was the sickening smell of mold. The next thing they saw was that the books were old - many from the 1950's and earlier. WLP assistant director Maggie Hite followed one man as he went from shelf to shelf looking at the books. All he said was, "this puts me off. This really puts me off." The disappointment was heartbreaking. At another library, Maggie watched the librarian open a new shipment of books from abroad. To everyone's dismay, they were in Czech - the library had paid duty on a box of worthless materials.
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The World Library Partnership (WLP) recognizes that African librarians
need the opportunity to select and purchase new books for their libraries.
The WLP Book Certificate Program is an innovative program which brings
South African librarians to a mini book fair and supplies them with Book
Certificates that they can use to purchase materials for their libraries.
WLP's
Book Certificate Program prevents disasters like these from occurring.
It empowers African communities to choose for themselves what materials
will be in their libraries. It also contributes to the long-term
sustainability of libraries by supporting African publishers and book
sellers. Finally, it saves thousands of dollars in shipping and
customs charges. Imagine the message sent to aspiring African writers
when all they ever see are books by European and American authors.
Then imagine your contribution putting an African book in their hands.