From Sri Lanka: Putting Mobile Libraries in Motion
Last week, a new mobile library initiative was launched to help an estimated 80,000 families and children who do not have access to existing library services in four Local Authorities in Sri Lanka. Many of these communities were devastated by the tsunami, and schools and libraries are still in the process of being rebuilt. The mobile library initiative is being organized by The Asia Foundation with support from the AIG Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), and Give2Asia, an organization founded by The Asia Foundation to promote philanthropy to Asia.
The Asia Foundation has retrofitted buses to become mobile libraries, which are stocked with books selected by each local authority, a laptop computer, a multi-media projector, and educational DVDs. Books are available in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages and will be highly useful for school children, university students, and teachers. The mobile libraries will also have textbooks from student reading lists. Stationed at different points, these mobile units will cover the entire geographic area of each participating local authority.
At a ceremony at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) on September 7, The Asia Foundation Country Representative, Nilan Fernando, and the Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils, Honorable Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, presented the mobile libraries to the representatives from the Hambantota Pradeshiya Sabha, Hikkaduwa Pradeshiya Sabha, Kattankudy Urban Council and Thirukkovil Pradeshiya Sabha. The four Local Authorities were selected based on their commitment to increase citizens’ access to library and information services. Each Local Authority has established citizen advisory committees and neighborhood “Reading Circles” to get public feedback about their library services.
The Asia Foundation’s popular Books for Asia Program provided books for the libraries. Books for Asia distributes approximately 100,000 brand new, high-quality text books and children’s books per year in Sri Lanka and is now further widening its reach through the launch of these mobile libraries. The generosity of AIG and its employees made possible the donation of the mobile libraries to tsunami-affected Local Authorities, which are still grappling with reconstruction and recovery activities, including the restoration of schools and libraries.
