Books For Africa and Little Free Library Form Partnership to Ship 'Little Libraries' to Africa

Books For Africa and Little Free Library, two area nonprofits, have formed a unique partnership to build and send more than 2,000 "Little Free Libraries" to Africaover the next several years.

The two groups ask local organizations, businesses, schools and individuals to help sponsor the effort. Each $1,000 covers the costs to build and ship a one-of-a-kind Little Free Library and $1,000 worth of books.

Little Free Library, based in Hudson, Wisconsin, will design and build the miniature book exchanges that look like small cottages or schoolhouses on a post. Thousands are already located in neighborhoods throughout the U.S., and the movement has spread to 36 countries around the world. Books For Africa, based in St. Paul, will supply the books.

A distributor for Little Free Libraries has already been established in Ghana, West Africa. Other Little Free Libraries will be distributed across Ghana, Nigeria and the rest of Africa using the network established by Books For Africa.

"We believe this is a terrific partnership between two groups whose mission is to spread education through books and reading," said Patrick Plonski, executive director of Books For Africa. "Making free books available will help both students and parents."

"Our goal is to ship more than 2,510 libraries to Africa, a total that would surpass the number of libraries sponsored by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie," said Todd Bol, co-founder and executive director of Little Free Library. "These libraries will belong to the people who use them, and sponsoring each one is a gift that can endure for years."

Little Free Library was started in 2009 by Bol and University of Wisconsin-Madison instructor Rick Brooks at Bol's yard in Hudson. Its mission is to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide. To learn more and participate: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/books-for-africa.html

Books For Africa, founded in 1988 by Tom Warth, has a simple goal: to end the book famine in Africa. Books For Africa remains the largest shipper of donated text and library books to Africa, shipping over 27 million books to 48 different countries since 1988. For more information: http://www.booksforafrica.org/success-stories/books-for-africa-and-little-free-library-form-partnership-to-ship-little-libraries-to-africa.html