Over the weekend I was made aware of a very worthwhile project to get books into the Burmese libraries devastated by Cyclone Nargis. All of the details are available here:
Despite its poverty, Myanmar has more than 30,000 community libraries in addition to 150 college and university libraries. Burmese have a value for reading which is supported and encouraged by their history and culture. One of the casulties of Nargis has been many of the libraries.
In 2008, the Nargis Library Recovery Project was born out of the vision of John Badgley, retired librarian/professor from Cornell University and founder of the Institute of the Rockies, and U Thaw Kaung, founder of Burma’s library diploma program and retired Central Universities Librarian. The project is jointly sponsored by the Institute, the Myanmar Book Aid Foundation, and Ashin Nyanissara, abbot of Sitagu International Buddhist Academy.
Thanks to Ian Holliday for drawing my attention to this important work. If any New Mandala readers are in a position to help out I’m sure that the Myanmar Book Aid team would be delighted to hear from you.
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