The McGill students from Librarians Without Borders visiting Guatemala have blogged their report on Day 1 at Asturias Academy:
Today we started planning short and long term tasks that LWB can accomplish. We divided into smaller groups to work on different planning aspects for the library:
- Library mission and objectives, training & programming
- Planning the library space
- Collection development policy and cataloguing practices
We have lots of opportunities to interact with the kids. Tomorrow we will play basketball and soccer and get a chance to meet with the Reading Club.
The LWB student members from McGill have arrived in Guatemala! Their post:
We arrived in Guatemala City around 2:15 local time (it’s two hours behind Montreal time) … It sounds like the Academy has some good ideas on how they want to use a library but they have no idea how to implement them or where to get started. They know the Third Grade teacher will be the librarian as well but they also hope to have someone serve as “reading promoter” – a person who creates activities, resources and programming to create interest in reading for fun.
LWB@UWO updates on their library-building project: Collecting Spanish Children’s Books for the El Humo Library
For the past eight months, the student committee of Librarians Without Borders at the University of Western Ontario has been working on a project to build a school library for the mountain village of El Humo in Costa Rica. … The El Humo school requested science and geography materials, as well as books appropriate for young English-language learners. Finding Spanish-language materials for the library has been quite the learning experience!
“There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.” — Andrew Carnegie
Libraries have historically been vital instruments of democracy, education, and social capital construction in the United States. The continued livelihood of these venerable institutions, however, is not guaranteed; in fact, the emergence of Google and the current economic recession lead many to wonder, why should we still continue to support these seemingly antiquated institutions? What is the status of those historical roles in the context of modern libraries?
These questions will be discussed and responded to at a speaker event moderated by Librarians Without Borders on Tuesday, April 13th, in recognition of National Library Week. Please join us for this free event in Rancho Palos Verdes!
Invited Speakers:
Meghan Gaynor, Library Program Director, Access Books
Suzanne McMillan, Manager - Main Library, Long Beach Public Library
Melanie Sellar (moderator), Librarians Without Borders
Tuesday, April 13th, 6 pm, Marymount College Library
Light refreshments provided
Event admission and parking is free
Donations of children’s books welcome in support of 93rd St Elementary!
Facebook Event page
The next meeting of the University of Toronto LWB Student Committee will be on 15 April at 4 pm in the Inforum. All are welcome.
Contact Jessica Rovito at [email protected] for more information.
News | Sara Janes April 28, 2010 | 
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