SETU Waterford Book Aid Project
"When you give someone a book, you don’t just give paper, ink and glue.
You give the possibility of a whole new life"
Christopher Morley (1890 – 1957, US writer)
SETU Waterford Book Aid Project
2001/2002 - 2014: 8 shipments totalling 8,500 books collected and donated.
Books, donated by SETU Waterford students and staff, were sent to Africa to stock libraries and support reading and access to education.
SETU Waterford Meitheal provided minor financial assistance to the SETU Waterford Book Aid Project.
The SETU Waterford Book Aid Project was initiated by the Chaplaincy Office in conjunction with SETU Waterford Meitheal Group and SETU Waterford Libraries in 2001/2002.
Second-hand textbooks in good condition were donated by SETU Waterford students and staff.
In the first 5 years of the project over 3,000 books were collected.
In 2007 Book Aid International http://www.bookaid.org/ were no longer accepting second-hand books as they were receiving so many new textbooks from publishers.
SETU Waterford Book Aid Project then partnered with READ International - http://readinternational.or.tz/ Our first shipment to Read International of over 800 books took place in 2008 and again in 2010 over 800 books were collected. In 2012 900 books were collected and headed for READ International on World Book Day (1st March 2012).
In April 2013 the 7th shipment of donated books departed WIT.
In 2014 Better World Books announced they would only be accepting donations through their Book Bins located in the UK. The 260 books already donated were collected by Better World Books and the monies raised were donated to READ International.
The support of MacTrans, a local transport company, must also be acknowledged as the company provided free shipping of the donated books from SETU Waterford to the Book Aid International / READ International depots in the UK.
Article
SETU Waterford Books for Africa – 10 Years A-Growing’ published in SCONUL Focus 57
http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/15_11.pdf
News
SETU Waterford Libraries: News
http://library.wit.ie/news/2013/04/16/book-aid-wits-7th-shipment-departs/