Partner With Us
Organization Impact
- 2 million children impacted
- 40,000 teachers trained
- 3,000 schools reached
- 100 government partners
- 20 Years Experience
Why Partner?
- Proven Impact
- Customization
- Transparency
- Community Engagement
- Over 500 Partners
At The Library Project, we believe meaningful partnerships are key to making a lasting impact on literacy and education.
Whether you are a corporation looking to enhance your CSR initiatives, an international school eager to foster global citizenship, a foundation aiming to amplify its impact, an alumni group seeking meaningful engagement, or an organization committed to global literacy, The Library Project offers a partnership model that aligns with your goals. Join us in our mission to change lives through literacy.
Meaningful corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives for your company and employees.
Empower your students to make a difference through hands-on community service experiences.
Foundation Partnerships
Join forces with us to amplify your foundation’s impact on literacy and education.
Alumni & Group Partnerships
Connect with your alumni network or group through impactful and meaningful projects.
We provide resources, training, and support to schools, NGOs, and governments outside our primary program locations.
Your support will provide books, educational materials, and a safe space for children to learn and grow.
Strategic Partners
Partners that have supported our programs over the past year.
Our Blog Archive
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Our Programs
Organization Impact
- 2 million children impacted
- 40,000 teachers trained
- 3,000 schools reached
- 100 government partners
- 20 Years Experience
At The Library Project, we address the critical need for improved literacy by providing comprehensive solutions that extend beyond simply supplying books. Our approach is multifaceted: we create inspiring and functional library spaces, conduct targeted literacy training, and offer continuous teacher training and support. Each element of our strategy is designed to enhance the educational experience and foster a love of reading among students.
By creating tailored library spaces and carefully selecting book content, we aim to make reading accessible and engaging for every student. Our training programs for educators are crafted to ensure that these resources are utilized to their fullest potential, enhancing the learning environment and encouraging a culture of reading. Combining these efforts, The Library Project empowers communities, supports educators, and ignites students’ passion for learning across diverse educational landscapes.
Reading Rooms
Reading Rooms serve entire schools by supplying high-quality educational books. These facilities are established in schools that already possess the necessary infrastructure for a library. Instead of constructing new spaces, we collaborate with local education departments to repurpose existing areas within the school. This approach transforms underutilized spaces into stunning new children’s libraries, enhancing the educational environment for the entire school.
Reading Corners
Reading Corners offers each classroom direct access to a diverse collection of high-quality STEAM books covering Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. This model integrates the library within the classroom, ensuring students and teachers have access to valuable educational resources. Classroom libraries provide students immediate access to engaging, deeply enriching educational books.
Literacy Bags
Literacy Bags equip children with their own personal collection of high-quality educational books to take home. These bags represent the initial steps towards creating a home library and are exclusively theirs. We distribute Literacy Bags through partnerships with local governments, schools, and educators, ensuring children can continue reading and learning at home.
STEAM Boxes
STEAM Boxes are designed to inspire creativity, critical thinking, and a love for learning by combining Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics into engaging hands-on activities. STEAM Boxes provide all the materials and instructions for children to explore and innovate, perfect for classrooms, libraries, and community centers.
Global Literacy Partnerships
At The Library Project, we are committed to empowering Literacy Organizations and NGOs worldwide to make a lasting impact through library donations. We provide free resources and support to help your organization achieve its goals and create meaningful community change.
Our Book Content Core Values
The core values guiding the content of our books are fundamental to The Library Project. These values shape the libraries we establish, the programs we offer, and the training we conduct. Each decision we make is informed by these principles, ensuring our efforts align with our mission to enhance education and enrich lives.
- STEAM Education
- Inclusion & Diversity
- Protecting the Environment
- Girls’ Education
- Promoting World Peace
- Nurturing the Heart & Mind
These core values ensure that our libraries are more than just collections of books—they are dynamic resources that foster critical thinking, empathy, and a commitment to positive global citizenship.
Where We Work
At The Library Project, we are dedicated to making a lasting impact on children’s education and literacy around the world. Our primary focus is on rural elementary schools, orphanages, community centers, and children’s hospitals in China, where we lead comprehensive library donations, literacy programs, and teacher training initiatives. These efforts aim to create vibrant, resource-rich environments that foster a love for reading and learning among young students.
Beyond China, our commitment to global literacy extends through our Global Literacy Partnership initiative. This program offers support to small, literacy-focused nonprofit organizations worldwide, providing them with the resources and guidance they need to thrive—entirely free of charge. By collaborating with local and international partners, we amplify our reach and effectiveness, working towards a world where every child has access to the educational tools they deserve.
- Active Program Locations
- Former Program Locations
- Global Literacy Partnerships
Measuring Our Impact
Measuring Our Impact
This report provides an overview of our post-assessment of 165 rural elementary schools. The Monitoring and Evaluation Team of The Library Project conducted this assessment. Through the analysis of weighted questions, the report demonstrates the overall performance of the 165 libraries. We hope this report will help you gain a better understanding of the daily hard work carried out by the teachers and administration at each of our schools.
Overall Performance
Library Frequency of Usage
Teachers Guide Students with Book Selection
Checkout Records
Number of Books Students Read Annually
Overall Performance
In terms of the daily management of a school’s library, 99% of schools open their libraries daily to weekly, and 78% of schools conduct book classification and registration, which is an area that we would like to see improved.
Regarding creating a reading culture within the school, 95% of teachers provide guidance for students to choose books from their libraries. Furthermore, 93% of students have read more than 11 books from their libraries during the current year, an improvement from 90% in the prior year.
15% of schools conduct weekly reading activities, which is our worst-performing indicator, although this result is not unexpected. Improving literacy and reading awareness is a slow process, and to compound the challenge, teachers rarely have any time left to hold additional class activities.
Answers to Six Weighted Questions
Library Frequency of Usage
Of the six weighted questions, the most important is the frequency of library usage. As shown in the figure, 79% of the schools open their library and let students read books every day, 20% of schools open their library every week, and 1% open their library monthly. These are beautiful results.
Our goal is to have library usage daily and weekly. The results indicate that we have hit this goal. The single location that has a monthly schedule is not a school but a youth service center. For that reason, a monthly opening is more realistic for their situation.
We find that there are three daily opening modes. The first is when a librarian or senior student opens a Reading Room during lunchtime. A small number of schools open their Reading Room the entire day because most schools do not have a full-time librarian. The second mode is when the schools have Reading Corners, and because they are unlocked and located in each classroom, it encourages students to read books at any time. The third mode is when the school has a Reading Room, and teachers bring a selection of books into their classrooms for the students to read.
How often does the library open?
Teachers Guide Students with Book Selection
95% of teachers guide students on book selection. Although there are various ways for teachers to help students select books, the most common way is for the teacher to recommend related works according to the subject they are learning. Students then read the books in their Reading Room or classroom or borrow them to read at home.
Some librarians also set up small blackboards in the school library to recommend good books to all students. For example, Mr. Lou Ying, a librarian in Ruixi Town Central Primary School, Guizhou Province, has three small blackboards in his library, one of which is specifically for book recommendations.
Do teachers guide students with book selection?
Checkout Records
86% of schools have kept checkout records. Large schools do better than small and medium-sized schools because library management rules in large schools have been in place for years. We also found that students in 78% of large schools are active participants in their library management (the ratio of small and medium schools is 55.4% and 70.9%, respectively), which we believe contributes to a higher book checkout rate.
There are many reasons why a school might not keep checkout records, such as being understaffed, the demographic of the students having special needs, or teachers believing the students are too young to take books home safely. In these cases, we overwhelmingly see students being allowed to read books at the schools but not bringing books home for after-school reading activities.
Do schools keep checkout records?
Number of Books Students Read Annually
94% of students read ten or more books annually, on average a little less than one book a month, and 50% read more than twenty books annually.
Students from 6.1% of schools read less than ten books per year. These schools generally have unique circumstances, such as their students have special needs. These schools range from youth service centers to disabled children’s learning centers.
How many books do students read annually?
Corporate Partnerships
Corporate Partnerships
Strong CSR Programs
Over the past twenty years, The Library Project has worked with hundreds of corporate partners to improve rural literacy in Asia. Each partnership begins with our organization listening to the corporation’s needs and crafting a CSR program that fits the company’s culture. This is a big reason why 80% of our revenue came from repeat corporate donors.
Big or Small
No matter the size of your company, small or large, you can make a difference. Our corporate donors range from United Technologies (aerospace) to Urban Soup Kitchen (local restaurant chain), showcasing the diversity of our partners. Each of them approaches CSR in a unique manner, and we celebrate this diversity. There is no “right way” to give back, there is only “your way.” We look at your company’s size, industry, history and locations . . . then we work together to create a program that fits your budget and expectations.
Financial Transparency
The Library Project is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization aiming to make every donated dollar count. We pride ourselves on financial efficiency, donor accountability, and operational transparency. Through our in-depth Annual Reports, the Library Project is an open book. It is important to us that all donors and volunteers truly understand how The Library Project spends their generous financial contributions and how our libraries benefit the children we impact. The Library Project consistently strives for 100% transparency.
Strong Programmatic Results
At The Library Project, we believe that measuring our impact is incredibly important. It provides data so that we can continually improve our programs. We also believe it is important to communicate the successes and challenges we face to those who support us. To date, we have impacted over a million children by providing access to libraries in their rural primary schools. The beautiful thing about a school library is it lives; it stays just as relevant from day one as it will ten years into the future. Because of this, new children annually gain access to these spaces, and the total impact a library has on a community grows annually.
Training is critical to the long-term success of a library donation. Teachers at rural primary schools and administrators at orphanages all receive training on managing their new library. This training course is the first day of a one-year relationship between The Library Project team that ensures each and every library we donate operates at the highest level. Training is a critical part of every library donation.
It is not enough to just provide libraries; it is critical to work directly with the children. We take the necessary time to introduce the children to their new library, talk to them about the importance of reading, and explain how each book is a window to another world. At the end of each literacy program, the children understand that this new library will be open to them and that they can check books out for overnight reading. Children are always very excited.
Our Partners
Our generous corporate partners are important to The Library Project’s success. They allow us to fulfill our mission and expand our organization.
For a full list of our partners, please click here.
Employee Volunteer Involvement
At The Library Project, we are proud of all our corporate volunteers. Simply put, we could not do what we do without their support. Volunteerism at The Library Project is real work. Your team will leave a library donation tired, happy, and feeling as if they positively impacted the lives of children attending a rural primary school.
Strategic Partners
Partners that have supported our programs over the past year.
Program Costs
At The Library Project, we are committed to transparency in our operations. We ensure that every dollar donated is utilized effectively to give children the gift of literacy. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like a detailed proposal.
At The Library Project, we are committed to making literacy and education accessible to all. Our diverse range of programs is designed to support literacy development and community engagement through sustainable, impactful initiatives.
You will find pricing for each of our programs, allowing you to select the best a program that speaks to you and fits for your budget. Together, we can build brighter futures through the power of reading and learning.
Reading Rooms
Reading Corners
Elementary School Reading Corners
Kindergarten Reading Corners
Literacy Bags
STEAM Boxes
Book Donations
Reading Rooms are designed to transform the learning environment in rural elementary schools by providing access to high-quality educational resources. These vibrant spaces are equipped with colorful tables, chairs, and bookshelves, creating a welcoming and "child-friendly" area that enhances the educational experience.
In these Reading Rooms, students have access to a curated selection of engaging children’s books specifically chosen to spark their imagination and foster a love of reading. These books entertain and promote independent learning, intellectual curiosity, and a lifelong passion for reading. We aim to inspire a new generation of readers and thinkers in underserved communities by integrating Reading Rooms into schools.
Reading Rooms
Corporate, group, or individual library donation-day volunteerism opportunities are available with one or more Reading Room donation.
Reading Corners equips each classroom with a dedicated selection of high-quality STEAM books covering Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. By situating libraries directly within the classroom, we ensure that students and teachers have effortless access to essential resources.
These specialized libraries empower teachers by providing supplementary materials that enhance their lesson plans. Similarly, students benefit from the convenience of accessing books right at their desks—whether during breaks, before school, or after classes. The presence of a classroom library grants students immediate access to compelling and educational books in their language. This setup supports independent learning and intellectual curiosity and fosters a lasting enthusiasm for reading. Through Reading Corners, we aim to ignite students’ passions and broaden their academic horizons in critical STEAM disciplines.
Elementary School Reading Corners
Kindergarten Reading Corners
Corporate, group, or individual library donation-day volunteerism opportunities are available with twelve or more Reading Corner donations.
Literacy Bags provides children with high-quality educational books, enabling the first steps toward building a home library. This initiative is designed to significantly enhance the reading resources available to rural families, fostering a focus on children's literacy across diverse backgrounds.
We distribute Literacy Bags with the support of local governments, schools, and educators. Integral to this program is the capacity-building training provided to parents and caregivers. Educating them on integrating literacy practices at home is vital for their children’s educational development.
Little Seed Literacy Bags
Our original Literacy Bag with a focus on fun and educational children's literature.
Joyful Journeys Literacy Bags
A Literacy Bag containing books with a theme focused on kindness, bravery, and promoting young readers' mental health.
Planet Protectors Literacy Bags
A Literacy Bag containing books with a theme focused on promoting environmental protection.
STEAM Boxes are designed to inspire creativity, critical thinking, and a love for learning by combining Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics into engaging hands-on activities.
STEAM Boxes provide all the materials and instructions for children to explore and innovate, perfect for classrooms, libraries, and community centers.
STEAM Boxes
Book donations are a powerful way to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children. Each book costs just $3, but its impact on a child's education and future is priceless. By donating to our program, you help us provide essential reading materials to rural elementary schools, orphanages, community centers, and children's hospitals.
Books open doors to new worlds, inspire imaginations, and lay the foundation for lifelong learning. Your contribution enables us to stock library shelves, create engaging learning environments, and foster a love for reading in communities that need it the most. With your support, we can ensure that every child has access to the educational resources they deserve, no matter where they live.
Book Donations
Children's Book (1 book)
Children's Books (5 books)
Children's Books (25 books)
Adopt a Library
Adopt a Library
Beautiful libraries
The Library Project donates libraries to improve children’s literacy. Children gain access to a beautiful school library providing fun and interesting children’s books that spark their imaginations and promote a lifelong love of reading. Having fun educational books that are easily available helps to encourage independent learning, intellectual curiosity, and a lifelong passion for reading.
All of our library donations have a teacher training component. This course covers how to properly loan books to students, how to use children’s books in a classroom setting, and how to get the students involved in maintaining their library.
Local language children’s books
We provide a wide range of local language children’s books including history, science, short stories, fairy tales, books for very young readers, children’s dictionaries, children’s reference books, and an assortment of comic books. Each school also receives a full set of children’s encyclopedias for older students. Every book is in full color and of the highest print quality. To acquire our books, we work with various large bookstores’ regional warehouses, online book distributors, and resellers.
Teacher training
The Library Project provides a quality teacher training course. Our teacher training course is created specifically for teachers and administrators to learn how to manage their library. This course covers how to properly care for their library, use the books in a classroom setting, and get the teaching staff involved in maintaining their library.
Why is this important?
Teachers are important. We have found that this training course results in 94% of our libraries being effectively used on a daily-to-weekly basis after the first year. These are the kinds of results that everyone at The Library Project is so proud of and keeps us moving toward our goals every day. The Library Project conducts an annual 3-year Monitoring and evaluation, and when schools need support, they receive additional training.
Donor volunteer involvement
At The Library Project, we are proud of all our donor volunteers. Simply put, we could not do what we do without their support. Volunteerism at The Library Project is real work. We encourage you to attend your library donation. You will leave a library donation tired, happy, and feeling as if they positively impacted the lives of children attending a rural primary school.
Get your company involved
Over the past twenty years, The Library Project has worked with hundreds of corporate partners to improve rural literacy in Asia. Each partnership begins with our organization listening to the corporation’s needs and crafting a CSR program that fits the company’s culture. This is a big reason why 80% of our revenue came from repeat corporate donors.
To learn more about how you can get your company involved, please click here.
Where We Work
At The Library Project, we are dedicated to making a lasting impact on children’s education and literacy around the world. Our primary focus is on rural elementary schools, orphanages, community centers, and children’s hospitals in China, where we lead comprehensive library donations, literacy programs, and teacher training initiatives. These efforts aim to create vibrant, resource-rich environments that foster a love for reading and learning among young students.
Beyond China, our commitment to global literacy extends through our Global Literacy Partnership initiative. This program offers support to small, literacy-focused nonprofit organizations worldwide, providing them with the resources and guidance they need to thrive—entirely free of charge. By collaborating with local and international partners, we amplify our reach and effectiveness, working towards a world where every child has access to the educational tools they deserve.
- Active Program Locations
- Former Program Locations
- Global Literacy Partnerships
Program Costs
At The Library Project, we are committed to transparency in our operations. We ensure that every dollar donated is utilized effectively to give children the gift of literacy. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like a detailed proposal.
At The Library Project, we are committed to making literacy and education accessible to all. Our diverse range of programs is designed to support literacy development and community engagement through sustainable, impactful initiatives.
You will find pricing for each of our programs, allowing you to select the best a program that speaks to you and fits for your budget. Together, we can build brighter futures through the power of reading and learning.
Reading Rooms
Reading Corners
Elementary School Reading Corners
Kindergarten Reading Corners
Literacy Bags
STEAM Boxes
Book Donations
Reading Rooms are designed to transform the learning environment in rural elementary schools by providing access to high-quality educational resources. These vibrant spaces are equipped with colorful tables, chairs, and bookshelves, creating a welcoming and "child-friendly" area that enhances the educational experience.
In these Reading Rooms, students have access to a curated selection of engaging children’s books specifically chosen to spark their imagination and foster a love of reading. These books entertain and promote independent learning, intellectual curiosity, and a lifelong passion for reading. We aim to inspire a new generation of readers and thinkers in underserved communities by integrating Reading Rooms into schools.
Reading Rooms
Corporate, group, or individual library donation-day volunteerism opportunities are available with one or more Reading Room donation.
Reading Corners equips each classroom with a dedicated selection of high-quality STEAM books covering Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. By situating libraries directly within the classroom, we ensure that students and teachers have effortless access to essential resources.
These specialized libraries empower teachers by providing supplementary materials that enhance their lesson plans. Similarly, students benefit from the convenience of accessing books right at their desks—whether during breaks, before school, or after classes. The presence of a classroom library grants students immediate access to compelling and educational books in their language. This setup supports independent learning and intellectual curiosity and fosters a lasting enthusiasm for reading. Through Reading Corners, we aim to ignite students’ passions and broaden their academic horizons in critical STEAM disciplines.
Elementary School Reading Corners
Kindergarten Reading Corners
Corporate, group, or individual library donation-day volunteerism opportunities are available with twelve or more Reading Corner donations.
Literacy Bags provides children with high-quality educational books, enabling the first steps toward building a home library. This initiative is designed to significantly enhance the reading resources available to rural families, fostering a focus on children's literacy across diverse backgrounds.
We distribute Literacy Bags with the support of local governments, schools, and educators. Integral to this program is the capacity-building training provided to parents and caregivers. Educating them on integrating literacy practices at home is vital for their children’s educational development.
Little Seed Literacy Bags
Our original Literacy Bag with a focus on fun and educational children's literature.
Joyful Journeys Literacy Bags
A Literacy Bag containing books with a theme focused on kindness, bravery, and promoting young readers' mental health.
Planet Protectors Literacy Bags
A Literacy Bag containing books with a theme focused on promoting environmental protection.
STEAM Boxes are designed to inspire creativity, critical thinking, and a love for learning by combining Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics into engaging hands-on activities.
STEAM Boxes provide all the materials and instructions for children to explore and innovate, perfect for classrooms, libraries, and community centers.
STEAM Boxes
Book donations are a powerful way to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children. Each book costs just $3, but its impact on a child's education and future is priceless. By donating to our program, you help us provide essential reading materials to rural elementary schools, orphanages, community centers, and children's hospitals.
Books open doors to new worlds, inspire imaginations, and lay the foundation for lifelong learning. Your contribution enables us to stock library shelves, create engaging learning environments, and foster a love for reading in communities that need it the most. With your support, we can ensure that every child has access to the educational resources they deserve, no matter where they live.
Book Donations
Children's Book (1 book)
Children's Books (5 books)
Children's Books (25 books)
Get Involved
Make a monthly or one-time donation
For the price of lunch you can provide ten books every month to a rural primary school, $25 provides access to a child to a library, and $250 provides teacher training to a rural primary school teacher.
The Library Project is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that aims to make every dollar donated count. Donors receive quarterly organization updates, photos and videos of the important work we are doing together.
Adopt a library
Help us provide a library to our next rural primary school. You can provide over a thousand children’s books, furniture, globes, plants, educational toys, and a comprehensive Librarian Training Course to a rural elementary school, orphanage or community center. Adopt a library today and make a diference in the lives of the children it serves.
Get your company involved
The Library Project has worked with hundreds of corporate partners over the past ten years improving rural literacy in Asia. Each of these partnerships begins with our organization listening to the individual needs of each corporation, and then crafting a CSR program that truly fits into the culture of the company.
Volunteer, Intern or Raise Awareness
We have a small team, and for that reason we need your help. Work in our offices, support us at a library donation, or receive school credit for an internship. Contact us to learn more about how you can get involved today.
Our Partners
Strategic Partners
Partners that have supported our programs over the past year.
" The Library Project's ability to support children's literacy is because of our partner network. We are lucky to receive support from a diverse group, from large multinational corporations to local family-owned restaurants. Their dedication to supporting children's literacy is inspiring. "
— Tom Stader. Founder, The Library Project
Our Story
Our Story
Since 2006, we’ve been improving rural children’s literacy in Asia. This is our story.
My name is Tom Stader, and I’m the Founder of The Library Project. This is our organization’s story through my eyes.
I have broken this up into four critical periods from The Library Project’s journey.
A Simple Idea (2006)
Finding Our Way (2007-2008)
Taking Risks (2009)
One Million Books (Today)
It’s important to tell the story and understand the values we hold and what we are trying to achieve. Perhaps through our story we can motivate others to get involved, to understand that to make an impact is something that is achievable.
A Simple Idea (2006)
A simple idea. A few friends. Nine libraries.
The seeds of The Library Project were planted in 2006 with five friends who wanted to make a difference in the lives of children living in an orphanage and children’s shelter in Dalian, China. I had been volunteering on weekends at the orphanage tutoring some of the children on their English language studies. These were good kids. I also knew the headmaster personally, and was absolutely confident that whatever we decided to do would be appreciated.
We soon came up with a plan. Our simple idea was to donate a library of books to each location. Soon after, we held a used book drive at six Aston English Schools (a local educator that we were working at) in hopes of collecting a couple hundred books for each orphanage. After just one week, we had collected over 3,000 children’s books which far exceeded our expectations.
Our next step was to reach out to our friends and family who helped us to raise $500 to purchase tables, chairs, bookshelves, globes, lighting, and plants for the two small libraries. Two months later, both the Dalian Children’s Orphanage and the Dalian Children’s Shelter received beautiful new libraries that the children could enjoy daily. In both cases these tiny libraries were the brightest and most exciting room the children had to hang out in, read, and do their homework. At both locations the administration promised to keep the rooms open and well maintained. We were thrilled.
We shared photos and stories with those who donated books and money and thought, “mission accomplished”. We had achieved our goal and our simple plan was now a reality. Something amazing happened though, people kept donating small amounts of money for more libraries.
As these little unsolicited donations were coming in, I decided to move from China to Vietnam. By this time I’d lived in Asia for five years and had been moving on average every six months. You could say I was restless; looking for my place in Asia. Once I started my new job and had settled into my new home, I formed a new group of friends that continued donating small libraries in our free time. Our next library went into a busy primary school in District 4 of Ho Chi Minh City. We donated 200 newly purchased Vietnamese language children’s books to this small school. This was an important step forward, in that we were began to focus on quality of books (new) and not just the quantity of books (used).
After each library donation we would send more photos and thank you emails to those who financially supported us; and as before, after each email more money came in and soon we were able to to support seven additional library donations in Vietnam. Over the course of the year, we impacted one primary school, four orphanages, a rural HIV/AIDS clinic and a rural woman’s shelter. This simple idea was growing through the kindness of others. More importantly, I was recognizing the great need that was out there.
At the end of 2007 I received an email that would change my life. It was from Kevin Kruse, a serial entrepreneur from the USA, who heard about our small venture and expressed his interest in donating a substantial amount of money. He understood that this simple idea had potential to grow into something with a real potential to impact children’s literacy on a much larger scale than I had previously thought. Like all things, there were strings attached to this potential donation. Firstly, he wanted us to use his funds not to donate libraries, but to create a “real” organization. Secondly, he wanted us to develop clear and solid programs. And finally, to my own surprise, I needed to quit my job and work on The Library Project full time.
The last requirement was a tall order. I had a good job and was quite comfortable and going full time on a charitable start-up would take me out of my comfort zone completely. With that said, I also recognized this was a once in a life-time opportunity. Offers like this do not come around every day.
Soon after receiving Kevin’s offer, I quit my job and dedicated myself 100% to what would become The Library Project.
Finding Our Way (2007-2008)
Founding an organization. Back to China. Twenty-four libraries.
The first thing I did was create a small Board of Directors composed of close friends. This group was a big help with budgeting, legal matters and governance; three things I knew very little about. They also were composed predominantly of entrepreneurs, people who understood what it meant to build companies and knew the questions to ask. Without this group I would have been lost.
The next few months were a whirlwind of activity. I remember sitting in a coffee shop in Bangkok with a few members of our Board trying to come up with a name for our organization. Hours later we hit on “The Library Project.” We soon purchased the website address, went to a restaurant for dinner, and celebrated the creation of our organization.
We were then offered a free office in Xi’an, China. We had very little money left, so a free office was too much to pass up. That month I packed up my things in Vietnam, boarded a plane, and found myself moving to Xi’an. We then hired our first employee and began looking for schools that were in need of library donations.
What we found was surprising; the primary schools we were visiting had huge libraries. Thousands of books, but these books were largely useless. For example, the books we found were very old and not age appropriate for the children in attendance. Also, these libraries were behind lock and key, with children not allowed access to the few books what were age appropriate.
So, why did these schools have libraries that were largely useless? It’s quite simple. Each school had a quota for the number of books that should be found in their library based on their student number. For example, ten books per student. This was largely an arbitrary number that changed from school to school. This expectation put the administration at these schools in a difficult position. They needed to comply with local government regulations, but they also had to balance their already underfunded school budgets. Because of that, the administration went out and purchased the cheapest books they could find, locked the door to the library, and walked away.
With this information we saw a clear need for quality age appropriate children’s books in these schools that the children could actually read.
We ended the year with twenty-four beautiful library donations. These were gorgeous libraries. The children absolutely exploded when they walked into these rooms filled with bright child friendly tables, inviting chairs and kid sized shelving packed with fun age appropriate books. The teachers and local government were also impressed by the professionalism that we were showing.
I ended the year incredibly proud, tired and feeling as if I’d made the right decision to start The Library Project.
Taking Risks (2009)
Taking risks. A very special school. Finding focus.
Our celebration of our 24 library donations was short lived. When returning to the previous year’s library donations we found that over 50% were not being used regularly. We were devastated.
On top of that, we felt that our libraries were not going into schools with the “greatest need.” We were definitely making an impact, but not in the schools that we wanted to support.
That’s when we decided to take a risk, with very little money in the bank, we hired our second employee, Belinda Yu. She was an educator, understood the local education system, and began working with us on fixing the problems we faced. The first thing we did was reach out to communities that were well outside of our comfort zone (both geographically and logistically).
In March we found ourselves five hours outside of Xi’an, on top of a mountain, standing in a school that had the kind of need we were all looking to support. The Liu Lin Primary School was a mud and brick building with 60 students and eight teachers. Within five minutes of being there and seeing the shape the school was in, I had promised the Principal that we would return with a library. How we would actually do that was still unknown.
I remember walking through the school being overwhelmed by two opposing feelings; happiness and anger. Happiness because we had found a school that we absolutely knew we could make an impact in; the children would definitely benefit from a library donation. Anger because this school was beyond anything I could have ever imagined still existing in 2009.
People talk about this “divide between rich and poor.” This idea that there is an arbitrary line that divides our world in two. People talk about it like it’s this crack in the road that someone can simply step over if they work hard. I remember standing in this school thinking about how we have all been lied to. There wasn’t a divide between the rich and poor; there was a canyon.
My final thought was how unbelievably over my head I was. I had very little money, two employees to somehow pay at the end of the month, and I’d just promised these people a library.
Then, I walked into one of the school’s six classrooms and saw my team working with the children; I was blown away. Belinda was standing at the head of the classroom asking the children what kinds of books they would like to read, what their favorite subject was, and what it was like living in their village; she was doing all this with grace, empathy and courage. I remember thinking, “I can’t do this, but my team can.” That moment defined my leadership style going forward. My role from that point forward at the organization was clear, it was to provide my team the space to build the best organization that they could.
When I got back to my hotel that evening I sent out an appeal for donations with a photo of the school attached. By the time I woke-up that next morning the library was fully funded by a group of friends. I was blown away.
A month later we returned to Liu Lin Primary School with a small library. This school was not easy to reach. We had to take a train, a van, then a second van, a boat, then hike up a winding mountain trail. It was a journey. I remember being in the boat looking at all this stuff asking, “How are we going to get these boxes and shelving up to the top of this mountain?” My team just laughed and said, “Wait.”
As our boat pulled up to the base of the mountain, a group of thirty students were waiting for us. The older students had baskets on their backs that we filled with books, the younger students each took a handful of books, and we all walked up the mountain. It was incredible. The children were building their school library.
This tiny library of 600 local language books integrated right into the corner of one of their classrooms. It was by far the brightest part of the classroom. The children (literally) jumped out of their seats and ran toward the shelves tearing into the books; the teachers were getting very angry at how pushy the children were acting. We all just sat back laughing at the scene.
Later that day our team conducted our first Teacher Training Course. This was something we developed that year. This simple 15-minute course changed our organization’s programmatic results. We went from a 50% failure rate to 8% overnight. To this day we have maintained an 8% failure rate. Failure is a good thing. As our programs and training improve, our bar also gets raised for what we consider a successful library. It keeps us on our toes and pushes us to improve programmatically.
This tiny school library donation showed me what we at an organization could achieve. We left Liu Lin Primary School energized and focused. We ended 2009 with 69 additional library donations, each better than the previous.
We had truly gone from a simple idea to an organization that had real reach, real scale and real impact into the lives of children and communities in need.
One Million Children Impacted (Today)
One million. Killer team. Literacy.
Fast forward eleven years, The Library Project is a very different organization. Geographically, we’ve expanded to Vietnam. Our plans are to reach out to additional countries in the coming years. We are dreaming big.
Our programs have stayed razor focused on rural literacy though the donation of local language libraries. We still provide beautiful libraries, but our focus is on getting kids to read more, providing teachers with the tools to be the best teachers they can be, and being a support for the teachers when they need help using their libraries. This is what we do. This is what we will always do.
Our in-country teams are 100% local hires. They are still empowered to build the best organization they can. This has served us well, especially with our International expansion, because each country is subtly different. These subtle differences define culture and make each country special. Each library at its core is the same, but they look different and function differently in each country. This will also never change.
In April 2015, The Library Project team donated their one-millionth book., and as of January 2017, we impacted our one-millionth child. I’m incredibly proud of these milestone. Our team are donating on average one library every day, and in September 2017 they donated an amazing 49 libraries. As a comparison our team is donated the same amount of libraries in one month than we did in the entire 2009 calendar year. This is a testament not only to our ability to scale, but also the continuing need th roughout the countries we are operating in.
We have unbelievable partners that support us. This is an amazing group of donors, volunteers, representatives, Board members, local governments and partner NGOs. I’m humbled every day by the energy they give to us freely so that we can improve rural literacy in the communities we serve. We need more partners because without them and people like you, we would not be able to make the small change that these children deserve. Contact us anytime to discuss getting involved, how a donation will be used, and what kind of impact you can expect.
In closing, the kids and teachers we work with are the reason we do what we do. They are the reason why we all give so much of ourselves everyday. To date, we’ve impacted over a half million students and teachers. Our short-term goal is to impact one million children. We are just over half way there. We need your help.
Thank you for reading. I invite you to get involved. Reach out anytime, we are always available.
Cheers,
Founder of The Library Project