• Overview

• Libraries
• Local Language Publishing
• Schools
• Girls' Scholarships
• Computer Labs

• Monitoring & Evaluation
• Stories from the Field

The Challenge

The concept of a school library is virtually non-existent in many communities throughout the developing world. Because so many people in developing countries survive on less than US$1 per day, children's books are considered luxury items. In some cases, not a single book is available to children to encourage independent learning, intellectual curiosity and a lifelong passion for reading. Teachers lack the expertise and resources to establish libraries. In many cases, the few books in schools are are not written in a language that children learn at school, or are locked up for safekeeping, keeping them out of the hands of young readers. Even when they have acquired the skills to read, many children do not have access to books to practice and enjoy these skills.

Without the existence of a children's book publishing industry, the variety of local language children's books available to young readers in many of these countries is severely limited. Books that reflect local culture in a thoughtful, artistic and engaging style are in short supply. Without regular use, literacy can be lost. In addition, although rural schools in many of our partner countries teach English, most have no English language books. If there are no children's books to engage children and help them learn English, their curiosity, motivation and ability to learn English are all but lost.

Room to Read was founded in 2000 to address this simple need: establishing libraries and filling them with children's books, both the local language and in English.

The Room to Read Reading Room Approach

The first step toward the lifelong gift of education is putting a book in the hands of a child. Room to Read seeks to facilitate this by establishing a library in every new primary and secondary school we build, as well as in many existing schools, through our Reading Room Program. We create a child friendly learning environment, complete with as many as 300 to 3,000 age appropriate local language and English language children's books, furniture, games, puzzles and posters. In these libraries, students find books that expand their world, teach them new ideas and equip them with critical life skills. Furthermore, as part of our Reading Room Program, we provide training on proper library implementation with three years of support, which includes the provision of additional children's books and further training for staff.

We establish reading rooms in several different types of settings: 1) schools we have helped to construct; 2) non-Room to Read schools that meet our selection criteria; and 3) other environments where children have a need to learn, such as orphanages, children's hospitals, schools run by local nonprofit organizations and community centers.

Reading Rooms

Whenever possible, Room to Read libraries are established within an existing room in a school or community center. Because the school community provides us with a room, we are able to create a child friendly learning environment with both speed and relative ease.

One example of such a library is the Binh Xuan Primary School in Tien Giang, southern Vietnam. Here, the school board believed that having a library and books would be a great boost to the quality of education at the school and would be highly motivating for the approximately 900 students and teachers. Upon approaching Room to Read's Vietnam team, they offered to appoint a dedicated librarian to run the program. The Reading Room established in late 2005 is divided into two parts: one area for bookkeeping and housing the books, and one area where students can sit and read the books. Located on the main floor of the school, the room has been renovated and equipped with lights and electric fans to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for the students. All bookshelves, reading tables and seats have been colorfully painted. These reading tables and seats are sized especially for primary school age students. In an adjacent area, bright foam covers the floor; here, students can sit on soft pillows to play with educational games and read books. Over 600 English and Vietnamese books await eager students. In addition, fun educational posters are on the walls to attract students and inspire curiosity and an interest in reading.

Constructed Reading Rooms

Several of our local teams have discovered that many highly populated schools wish to partner with us to establish larger libraries, but they simply do not have the capacity to dedicate library rooms, as their schools are already too crowded. As a result, in 2005 our Cambodia team came up with a new approach: Constructed Reading Rooms. CRRs, as we call them, are stand-alone library buildings, which we construct and then furnish as we would our Reading Rooms.

Special care is taken to construct these buildings as exemplary facilities for both the school and the community, to further promote the value of education in the hearts and minds of the entire community. We also use local architectural styles in order to foster local pride and empowerment. Some of the library construction projects are built in conjunction with our Computer Room Program. These buildings include a fully furnished library as well as a computer lab.

One example of our library construction projects is the Teuk Thlar Primary and Junior High School, located in the province of Banteay Meanchey in the northwest part of Cambodia. With nearly 2,000 students, the school's tiny library - 2 shelves, 1 table and 200 books - was far from adequate. Despite the relative dearth of books in the library, it attracted many students daily. Unfortunately, the range of books was very limited, and neither the school nor the community could afford to construct a good library building or to improve the existing one. By partnering with the community, Room to Read changed this situation. With the community contributing funds, labor and security, the library opened in September 2005 and had already received over 5,000 visitors within its first few months of operation.

We expanded the construction of CRRs to Laos and Nepal in 2006, Vietnam in 2007 and Sri Lanka in 2008. We will continue to grow this important type of Reading Room so that all children, regardless of their school environment, can easily access children's books.

Other Reading Room Projects

Unfortunately, in many school communities there is simply not enough space to dedicate one room as a library. Rather than walking away from this all too common situation, our local teams find innovative solutions to best meet the needs of avid readers. We have established libraries in classrooms and community centers and created mobile book carts that can move from room to room, all to ensure that children have access to books. In some cases, these projects have been so successful that we have found ways to expand their library access, either through a standard Reading Room or Constructed Reading Room.

Books

We have donated over 2.2 million books and published an additional 2 million books - representing 226 new local language children's titles - to fill our library shelves. In Nepal and Cambodia, not only are we are the largest non-profit importers of English language books, we are also one of the top publishers of both Nepali and Khmer children's books.

Our libraries are stocked with local language books published by Room to Read, local language and English books bought in-country, and donated English books. The vast majority of our children's books in English are donated by or purchased at a discount from large publishers, such as Scholastic and Chronicle Books. We are then able to ship thousands of books at a time to our partner countries.

Our Challenge Grant Model

As part of our strategy, local communities partner with us through our "Challenge Grant" model. If a school would like to partner with us to establish a library, it can support the project by dedicating space, providing a dedicated librarian who participates in Room to Read training and/or supplying materials for the library. In the case of Constructed Reading Rooms, the school and community must provide materials and/or labor to aid in construction. In this way we ensure that the schools are committed to the library and will therefore continue to sustain it.

Reading Room Results

To date, Room to Read has established over 5,630 libraries in our partner countries. These libraries come in all shapes and sizes, but have a common element: our local team works with the community to determine how to best provide access to children's books and create a child-friendly environment.

Country		Total Thru 2007	2008 (Projected)
Cambodia		996	120
India		1530	806
Laos		362	170
Nepal		1728	403
South Africa		65	55
Sri Lanka		245	210
Vietnam		241	78
Zambia		-	50

How You Can Help

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."

- H.G. Wells

Remember when someone read to you as a child? Remember your favorite book? Its shape and print? The colors of the illustrations? The dog-eared, much loved favorite pages? All children have the right to a memory of their favorite book. With your gift, you can make such a memory possible for a young child today!

	Donate to the Reading Room Program - Make a donation towards reading rooms in a particular country, to the program in general, or leave it up to Room to Read to best allocate your contribution.
	Sponsor the establishment of one or more libraries or one of our Library Construction Projects.
	Learn about volunteer opportunities with Room to Read.
	Sign up for our quarterly electronic newsletter to get updates on the organization, our programs, and more.