(3 January 2016, Chicago) The American Library Association (ALA) has donated $2,500 from its Nepal Library Relief Fund to the READ Global (Rural Education and Development) Center in Tukche village in the Mustang district of Nepal. A community library and resource center, the READ Center is being rebuilt after sustaining significant damage during the 2015 earthquakes.
ALA members and other library supporters donated to the fund. The $2,500 donation will be used to purchase materials for the center’s library, including furniture and books.
“They will be able to use the $2,500 to help equip the new building with all of the modern amenities that a READ Center has today,” said Tina Sciabica, executive director of READ Global.
The Tukche READ Center has been rebuilt to be earthquake resilient and consistent with modern standards, including installation of computers, Internet access and solar panels to ensure consistent power. A remote village in the Nepali Himalayas, Tukche is home to fewer than 1,000 people.
READ Global works to establish community library and resource centers (READ Centers) by partnering with rural communities in South Asia. Each READ Center is owned and operated by the local community, and features a library, computer room, women’s section, children’s room, and training hall. Six of READ’s 62 centers in Nepal were heavily damaged or destroyed during the 2015 earthquake.
One major contribution to the fund came from Mount Prospect (Illinois) Public Library, where staff raised $268.25 through an ongoing employee-only sale of discarded library materials. Circulation assistant Donna Wilson launched the sale in 2005 to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina relief. She stocked a display in the library’s staff room with discards – at three for a $1 and one for 50 cents – that were unlikely to sell at Friends of the Library book sales.
In addition to their fundraising for Nepal, staff has raised funds for other ALA Relief Fund initiatives, including two donations for relief in the Philippines. Circulation assistant Kristen Morandi is currently in charge of the sale.
“We felt that donating the funds received to support other libraries would be a good mission,” said Marilyn Genther, executive director of the Mount Prospect Public Library. “I chose the ALA relief funds because I knew the money would be part of a greater fund to help libraries. I’m proud of my staff for their thoughtfulness and caring to assist others.”
For more information about the Nepal Library Relief Fund, visit http://www.ala.org/offices/nepal-library-relief-fund. For more information about READ Global’s response to the Nepal earthquakes, visit http://www.readglobal.org/our-impact/nepal-earthquakes-one-year-later
The press release is here.
