Hello, I have a dear friend who is heading to Malawi to set up two school libraries andafter months of preparation (see message below). She is looking specifically for checkout cards/pockets and motivational library posters. She shipped the books in September and they're arriving any day. If you have any checkout cards/pockets or posters laying around you'd like to donate they can be sent to me here at the Westland Library, RIDES zv353 or TLN 63 WTLD. Thanks for your support! Jennifer Roth Head of Adult Services Westland Public Library (734) 326-6123 Jennifer, Thanks so much for your help a few months back in finding a gold-mine of a resource: African Library Project, a 220 page document that spells out exactly how to set up sustainable school library in Africa. I have been working with the Warm Hearts Foundation https://warmheartsfoundation.org/ and have been able to collect books, make accession lists and ship books to Malawi (they should be there any day). Half of these will go into a primary school and half into a secondary school. I'm going to help get things organized and facilitate the initiation of a 8-10 member library committee at each school. I still don't know how the books will be organized for "lending", but it might be via the old system of a book pocket and library card with date due in the pocket. I looked online and such materials are available to buy, but I was wondering however whether local libraries that no longer use these supplies might have some lying around that they would be willing to donate. Do you know whether this might be the case and which libraries I should contact? I thought I'd start with you. Also, if your library has any old posters or other "reading promotional materials" to put on walls (maps, periodic table, etc.) that would be helpful. I'm attaching two spreadsheet lists of the books that are being sent. I would appreciate any comment or suggestions that you might have. I plan to try to go through the books with the Malawian teachers so that they can tell me what is appropriate and what is not, in regard to cultural sensitivities and also the level of reading proficiency of the students. Please pray that this is a productive trip and that I can make some long lasting contacts with the schools. The libraries at these two pilot schools will be monitored to see whether this venture is successful and whether this model should be replicated. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction. Cheers, Joann