Written by: Natasha Harris, Senior Pacific Regional Director

My Favorite Day in Africa

This summer, I was chosen to be part of a Books For Africa/Better World Books delegation which spent over two weeks in the countries of Ethiopia and Tanzania. The trip was incredible in every possible respect. We were able to visit numerous schools, non-profits, and libraries that have been recipients of books sent through Books For Africa.

Our travels brought us in contact with very many fantastic organizations and wonderful people; however, my very favorite experience was at the Mtopepo B Primary School on the island of Zanzibar. On that day, we were honored on stage alongside top USAID officials and Michael Retzer, the US Ambassador to Tanzania, for the direct support we’ve helped provide to Zanzibar’s school system. The ceremony was a lot of fun: our host school had obviously put a lot of effort into planning the event, and it went off without a hitch.

My favorite part of the day actually came after the ceremony was over, when we had the opportunity to walk around and visit different classes. A number of the younger children went directly back to class, but many of about age eight and over were more or less just lounging about in the open courtyard where the ceremony had been held. I went up and joined a group of them, and before I knew it I was overtaken in this massive crowd of beautiful, happy children. The group closed in on me and we were all jumping up and down together, laughing. It was one of those experiences where you can’t even really remember how it began, but you know even at the time that you’ll remember it for the rest of your life.

Part of my love for Better World Books stems from my love of children. I’m glad to work for an organization that helps create and further opportunities for youth around the world. I’ll never meet most of the children we help benefit, but I know they’re out there and I know I’m helping make their lives just that much better. For me, this single moment on this one beautiful day represented a reward much greater than the recognition we received at the ceremony. It was my favorite day in Africa.

We are excited to announce that we have recently made a lot of big changes to our website, www.betterworldbooks.com.  Much of these changes include updated and new numbers about the impact we make together by supporting literacy initiatives world-wide.  Other improvements include an easier way to navigate through our site, some design enhancements and a lot more information to help you understand what we do, who we are and how you can get involved!

There really is a lot of great new information on the site so we encourage you to browse the site and learn more. 

The Better World Books Library Team sent out the very first Quarterly Newsletter in early September!  Over 900 librarians across the U.S. received the Fall 2006 version.  If you would like to learn more about the Better World Books Library Discards & Donations Program, make sure you sign-up for our newsletter today!

Here's a PR from National Center for Family Literacy, promoting International Literacy Day...

Help Celebrate International Literacy Day Sept. 8

Louisville, KY – (September 8, 2006) New learning opportunities await families and children every day, it’s just a matter of looking in the right places, including the local newspaper.

Celebrate International Literacy Day Sept. 8 and begin a ritual of lifelong learning with the 2006 Literacy Tabloid presented by the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, Verizon and the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL).

Titled “Newspaper Inspiration: New Generation,” the 16-page tabloid is offered to newspapers and features engaging articles and activities, all geared towards making reading the local newspaper a family affair.

The tabloid ran in more than 400 newspapers throughout the nation last year with a combined circulation of more than 25,000,000.

“Newspapers provide a daily source of learning opportunities for parents and children and are especially important even in this age of MP3 players and podcasts, instant messaging and other high-tech ‘infotainment’,” said Sharon Darling, president & founder of NCFL.

The literacy information and activities included in the tabloid are drawn from the latest research from NCFL’s qualified experts including:

•        Activities to improve reading and math comprehension

•        Parent resources

•        Word games

•        Literacy volunteer opportunities

Thirty-four million adults have such low literacy skills that reading newspapers or books to their children or filling out a job application is nearly impossible.

 “Making reading the newspaper a family experience will give parents quality time with their children while instilling a love of reading and desire to know more about their world,” said Verizon Foundation President Patrick Gaston.

The free tabloid comes in InDesign and PDF files on a CD and can be ordered at the NAAF Web site at www.naafoundation.org/foundation/LitTab06/.

For more information, call Marvin Young of NCFL at (502) 584-1133 x173.

About NCFL:

The National Center for Family Literacy, the worldwide leader in family literacy, was founded in Louisville in 1989. NCFL has impacted 1 million families and trained 150,000 teachers, practitioners and advocates.  To learn more or to donate to this effort, call 1-877-FAMLIT1 or visit www.famlit.org.

The North Hennepin Community College Bookstore in Brooklyn Park, MN is an avid supporter of the Better World Books donation program.  Tom Curtis, the Inventory/Freight/Web Ordering Specialist sent us this link to their website featuring the BWB program.


Please see below for an excerpt from an article featuring the bookstore's BWB book drive effort which appeared in the Summer 2006 North Hennepin Community College class catalog.

"This year, during the spring buyback program, the bookstore collected 24 boxes of books - more than 1200 pounds - from students, staff and faculty. “It was a great donation for a worthy program,” said Jeanne Kiel, Bookstore Supervisor. “We’re hoping to send regular shipments of books to Better World Books, not just at buyback time."

www.nhcc.edu Summer Magazine 2006 page 11

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

 THE SECRETARY-GENERAL 

MESSAGE ON INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY

8 September 2006 

Literacy sustains development. That is the theme of this year’s International
Literacy Day. It recognizes that higher literacy rates are essential to economic growth,
poverty eradication, social participation and environmental protection. It reminds us that
literacy is the platform for developing a society’s human resources. 

Literacy begins with primary education, and achieving universal primary schooling
by 2015 is one of the Millennium Development Goals. Yet primary education does not
reach every child; there are more than 100 million girls and boys who never enrol in
school. Even for those who are enrolled, the quality of primary schooling may be so poor
that it leads to only a fragile command of basic literacy skills. And while official statistics
put the number of illiterate adults at more than 770 million, that figure does not include
the millions more who are ill-equipped to deal with everyday needs of learning,
understanding and communicating. 

Clearly, in many parts of the world, development has not yet delivered one of its
most important outcomes -- more literate and better educated populations. At the same
time, those societies are being robbed of the crucial tool for development which literacy
represents -- a tool that enables people to take advantage of new learning opportunities,
respond to changing occupational demands, undertake greater responsibilities, build their
way out of poverty and protect themselves against disease -- especially HIV/AIDS.
Women and girls who are deprived of literacy lack a vital weapon in freeing themselves
from inequality and discrimination. As we are reminded by the overall theme of the
United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012), literacy is freedom. 

The precious gift of literacy can sustain development only if it is itself sustained --
by post-literacy programmes, further opportunities for education and training, and the
creation of “literate environments” in which literacy can thrive. On this International
Literacy Day, let us pledge to step up national and international efforts for improved
literacy levels worldwide. Let us give literacy a real chance to transform individuals and
societies around the world.

Kofi A. Annan

This past Friday, September 1st, Garon Tate of Phi Theta Kappa released a breaking news article regarding the Better World Books (BWB) book drive partnership.

One highlight from the article are the results of the PTK spring book drive campaign:

"192 chapters have already collected 90,000 books, which will add up to approximately $35,000 in funds for these Phi Theta Kappa chapters."

Check out the article on the PTK website to see photos of PTK's Garon Tate and Brandi McNeil on their visit to the BWB collection center.

Dear Friends of Better World Books and Literacy,

We are excited to announce that John Wood, Founder and CEO of one of our partner organizations, Room to Read, has written and published a book detailing how he left Microsoft and started Room to Read.  As you know, Room to Read is an award-winning organization dedicated to providing children across the developing world with an opportunity to gain the lifelong gift of education.  Better World Books has raised over $150,000 for Room to Read over the past two years from our book drives and online book sales.

The Book is called Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, and it is available to buy now!  Room to Read has partnered with Giveline, Inc. (www.giveline.com/roomtoread) so that the margin from purchasing this book will be donated directly back to Room to Read.  The book is also available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Borders sites.

Leaving Microsoft details John’s incredible journey from corporate executive to social entrepreneur.  John was once a rising executive at Microsoft.  He thought he had it all: the big paycheck, the corporate apartment, and proximity to legendary software giant Bill Gates.  However, in 1998, he took a vacation that changed his life. 

While trekking in the Himalayas, John visited a rural Nepali school and was confronted by the harsh reality faced by millions of children in the developing world -- there were no books in the library!

As John left the village that day, the headmaster made a simple request: “Perhaps, Sir, you will some day come back with books.”  This request became a mission, one which John has dedicated “the second chapter of his adult life” to fulfilling:  changing the world one book and one child at a time by setting up schools and libraries across the developing world.

As of July 2006, Room to Read has opened nearly 3,000 libraries with 2 million books, set up over 2000 girls with long term scholarships, and opened nearly 200 schools.   Nearly a million children now have the opportunity to gain the lifelong gift of education.  To learn more visit: www.leavingmicrosoftbook.com  and www.roomtoread.org.

The team at Better World Books has read John’s memoir and we highly recommend it.  Publishers Weekly agrees – in a starred review, they described the book as “an infectiously inspiring read [in which] Wood endears himself to the reader with his honesty and introspection.”

We hope that you will not only buy the book, but also share this mail with others.  Better World Books is proud to be funding the amazing work of Room to Read, and we believe that the launch of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World is a wonderful opportunity to share this story with millions of potential supporters.

Sincerely,

The Better World Books Team

Written By Greg Barber:

Over the past summer, our Alpha Epsilon Omicron chapter of Phi Theta Kappa undertook one of the book drives sponsored by Better World Books. We filled sixty-five boxes, and totaled approximately 900 textbooks. No one in our chapter thought we would collect that many, and it would be an understatement to say that our expectations were greatly exceeded. We were stunned by our own success.  But looking back on the whole experience, it is apparent that this book drive wouldn’t have been the success it was if it weren’t for the presence of several key components.

Making the campus aware of the project, of course, is one of the keystones. Beginning in the early stages of the project, we sent out emails and put up flyers to notify our fellow students about the book drive. Even before the collection boxes were out, all three campuses knew that this project was going to begin soon. The time we put into the advertisement portion of this project definitely paid off. Students knew exactly when and where to donate their books, and contributions started coming in as soon as we put the boxes up.

Also, thoughtful placement of the boxes increased our donations tremendously. We placed them in high traffic areas such as the library entrance, frequently traversed hallways, and the bookstore. The bookstore location was an especially important collection spot due to the time of the project. Book-buy-back week was underway, and by placing the box adjacent to the buy-back center, it was ensured that any surplus books would be donated.

Contributions from faculty are also something that is definitely worth looking into. About half of our donations were from the college’s faculty and staff. All it took was an email from our advisor notifying the rest of the faculty that this project was coming up. To make it easy for people to donate, we designed one day a campus-wide “Book Blitz,” when chapter members and volunteers made the rounds to collect books at faculty and staff offices.  The response was enthusiastic, and plenty of our people were more than willing to get a few old books off their hands.

And lastly, the most important factor that resulted in this successful book drive was dedication. A committed team of people can go a long way. We started the project, and kept with it all the way until the end. Everyone stayed positive, were supportive of each other, and were always ready to offer assistance in any way possible.

Basically, thoughtful planning, willingness to dedicate time, and a team of committed people are really all that is needed to put on a successful book drive.

We have a new Regional Director, Damara Catlett, working in the Northern Mid-Atlantic Region...

My name is Damara and I’m the newest addition to the Better World Books team! I graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where I double majored in History and Africana studies. In addition, I finished my degree at the University of Pennsylvania this past spring. Throughout my undergraduate career I was always a very active student leader. I served as the president of the Black Student Union for two years and was a member of several organizations. Additionally, I worked as a library reference assistant for three years and interned for a State Representative.

I’m a Philadelphia native and a lover of the arts. Whether, it is a cultural event, concert or art exhibit happening in the city, I’m there! Moreover, I’m an avid reader, a lover of ethnic foods, a coffee connoisseur and passionate about politics and issues of social justice particularly concerning Africa. I also, fancy myself an artist sometimes and taught silk screening and enameling at a local art camp while in high school. Thus far, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with Better World Books and believe in our mission that literacy directly correlates to the expansion of opportunity and the realization of an improved quality of life.

The National Association of College Stores' "College Store" magazine promoted an idea this month:  it is in the best of campus bookstores to purchase all books from students during buyback, even those they cannot use.   BWB has piloted a program addressing this need, one where the books also serve our literacy partners.  This is our response when the issue surfaced recently on the NACS textbook listserv:

Paying cash to students for books your store can’t use is a conundrum.

One the one hand, students enjoy receiving something—anything—for their unwanted book; but, more importantly, students hate leaving your store with their old books in hand; according to TRU Research, students’ second largest complaint after cost of books is that their store doesn’t accept all books at buyback.  Sessions at both CAMEX and ConTEXT went to lengths to highlight this point.

On the other, paying cash for books which offer your store little or no utility doesn’t make a lick of sense, not even to a simple country boy like me.  Why buy something you can’t use?

Here is one solution:  Through a program we’ve been piloting with members of the NCBA, we reimburse your store for any cash outlays in exchange for the books.  Plus, we pay postage.  We developed this model with tremendous input from stores like yours.

I appreciate the non-solicitation policy of this listserv, and just wanted to let you this program is available.   Ueli Stadler (Reed College, NCBA President) among others, can attest to its success.

As many of you know, Better World Books is social enterprise modeled after Goodwill Industries; we offer for sale some of the books we receive, with their proceeds supporting a host of literacy organizations, primarily Books For Africa.  Incidentally, one post on this topic humorously suggests Brad and Angelina floating the bill to send the books to Africa.  While we’d love such an act of generosity, we’re not waiting for charity; we’re sustainable. 

Under “Strategic Goal: Sustainability Policy” in NACS Board of Trustees “Memo from the Boardroom”: NACS is committed to engaging in environmentally friendly practices and utilizing sound business practices.  What’s good for the environment and your bottom-line is a beautiful marriage, and we applaud NACS recent decision to join the Higher Education Sustainability Council.  We’re glad to share this path with you, and are proud our model allows us to help solve the sustainability conundrum—how to give students cash for books you don’t need.