Our team arrived in San Antonio Aguascalientes to work on the soon-to-be community library. Over the years, many volunteers from the U.S. and Canada had donated books to the center, most of which were written in English. In a rush to clear some space for a new computer lab, the books had been tossed into the library space and needed to be sorted and evaluated for condition.
Our crew weeded out older, outdated books; processed, cataloged, and added new children’s books in Spanish; and sorted and organized the English books. Our team modified a spreadsheet used by another school in Guatemala for cataloging the books and creating a checkout program.
Because there were so many books, our team focused on the Spanish books. Jessica, the new librarian, will continue processing and cataloging the English books, which are used by the tutors at the center for teaching English.
Our organization secured a laptop for the library, thanks to a generous donation from a supporter. We will continue to support Jessica by remaining in communication via online meetups and providing mini-training sessions online. Our organization will visit the library with a group of volunteers every two years to add more books to the collection and to conduct library programs for the students. Once the English books have been cataloged and processed and the furniture is in place, the center will open the library for the community!
Libraries for the World 