Big-Hearted Beijing: The Library Project

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Over the festive season, we’ll be highlighting some of the organizations and people that give their time and skills to make our city a better place, and looking at what you can do to support them. Spread the spirit of giving these holidays!

There are few things better to stimulate a child’s curiosity, creativity, and love of learning than a good book. For most of us, our kids grow up in homes full of bright, engaging reading material. But for many children in rural China, even their schools don’t have a library, or a place to sit and read independently. And that’s where The Library Project comes in. We talked to founder Tom Stader about their mission to turn unused classrooms into beautiful new reading rooms.

Tom Stader, founder of the Library Project

Q

Tell us about the history of your organization. How did it start, how has it developed?

Tom Stader: Fourteen years ago, my friends and I donated two libraries to two orphanages in Dalian, China. Those two simple library donations turned into an international organization with a mission to improve children’s literacy in Asia. As of today, The Library Project has donated 1,372 Reading Rooms and 3,225 Classroom Libraries to rural elementary schools. Each school that we support also receives one year of teacher training and support, along with children’s literacy programs.

Q

What are you doing now, and what are your plans for the future?

TS: The Library Project has a razor sharp focus on improving children’s literacy in Asia. We do this through donating beautiful local language libraries to rural elementary schools, providing quality teacher training, and conducting children’s literacy programs. All of these programs have one year of monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and support.

Our long-term plan is to keep our focus on improving children’s literacy, but expanding our footprint to additional countries in Asia.

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STEAM classroom in Dishi Primary School, Shanxi Province

Q

How can people get involved? What help do you need, and how can they contact you?

TS: Great question. The best way to get involved is to fund either a classroom or school library. If you fund a school library, then there are opportunities for on-site volunteerism. The schools we work with are not in city centers and take between two and five hours to reach. Volunteerism at a library donation is both hard work and rewarding for both the students attending the rural elementary school and the volunteers. Also, please feel free to add me, Tom Stader, on WeChat at: tomstader.

Supporting county library in Daba Village, Shaanxi Province

Q

What makes your organization different or special?

TS:  We try very hard to be a results-oriented organization, that is both financially and programmatically transparent. We also work very hard at providing those that support us financially an opportunity to physically see where their money goes through on-site volunteerism. We have been able to achieve these results through a network of government partners throughout China because they see the value that we provide to their schools, teachers and communities. I am able to say these things with confidence because we keep our focus on quality programming and we do not deviate from our organization’s mission.

Photos: Nichole He

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