From the Ground Up: Developing Sustainable Partnerships with Libraries in Rural Communities in Latin America Jessica Haglund, MLS and Hannah Miller, MLS Sister Libraries Workshop – April 2 nd, 2011

Growing a Grassroots Library Getting to Know the Community and Patrons:  Know your audience Who are your patrons? What is the community like?  Know the needs What are the information wants/needs?  Cultivate appropriate information resources

Forms Libraries Can Take  Mobile Book Projects  School Libraries  Libraries/Community Centers

Mobile Book Projects

School Libraries

Libraries/Community Centers

Collecting and Sending Information Resources  Securing Donations Annual library conferences, Publishers, Partner with foreign language departments and/or libraries at colleges Look for books in other languages at major book retailers, college bookstores, and look into publishers that publish in specific language(s) for donations  Sending Books Partner with airlines to ship books abroad Send books with volunteers Mail books to U.S. headquarter address (if one exists)

Importance of Lending Libraries  Trust and ownership

Importance of Encouraging Reading  Some communities lack a reading culture. When living requires everyone to pitch in, time to read is often a luxury not a necessity.  School is not affordable and therefore limited or no exposure to reading.  Lending libraries in these communities offer free and readily accessible information. They can also encourage families to read together.

Obstacles  Sustainability  Lack of local community buy-in  Lack of linguistically, socially, and culturally appropriate information  Infrastructure

Sustainability  What is “sustainability”? “Capacity to endure” “To keep up or keep going” “To provide for by furnishing means or funds” “Support by lending or giving aid” *  Ask yourself: How sustainable is this idea, project, donation, etc.? What are potential problems or issues that can arise, and how can they be dealt with or resolved? Can the community ensure the sustainability?

Lack of Community Buy-In  Organic Need vs. Imposed Entity  “This is what I think you need”

Lack of Appropriate Information  Many communities lack socially, culturally, and/or linguistically appropriate information  Local or Indigenous Publishing companies do not exist  Where to find the information? Publishers, conferences, foreign language departments, academic bookstores Be creative! Partner with local agencies and institutions.  Beware of Book Dumping!

Infrastructure  Electricity  Internet access  Passable roads  Staff

Skill Share Fosters Librarianship Across Continents To overcome some of the obstacles in developing grassroots libraries, it is important for Librarians to participate in skill share opportunities to assist the local librarians and help them to trouble-shoot their obstacles, such as lending/circulation without electronics, cataloging books without MARC, collection development and book repair.

The End… Hannah Miller – Jessica Haglund – © 2011 Hannah Miller/Jessica Haglund