Spanning the Information Gap One Bridge at a Time, Help Librarians Without Borders

Librarians Without Borders (LWB) was founded in February 2005 by a group of socially-minded librarians, primarily MLIS students at the University of Western Ontario, who wanted to address the vast information resource inequity existing between different regions of the world. The group's vision is to build sustainable libraries and support their custodians and advocates -- librarians.

Spanning the Information Gap One Bridge at a Time
LWB's first international project is helping develop Biblioteca Tutangi, a desperately needed nursing and medical Portuguese language library that will support the learning needs of university and college students in Huambo, Angola. This library will be open to all students and residents of Huambo, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Books on all subject matters will populate the shelves, including resources about AIDS treatment and sexuality. Details about the LWB Angola project.

We talk about the "divided divide," but clearly some situations require more fundamental solutions. Librarians Without Borders is doing something about spanning the information gap. They hope to have the resources someday to place volunteer librarians where they are needed to help develop collections for brick-and-mortar libraries, such as Biblioteca Tutangi in Huambo, Angola.

The group is young and underfunded, but motivated and focused on achievable goals. I've joined (and I never join anything!). How about you?

Check out Compass, the LWB newsletter, plus the How to Donate and How to Get Involved pages on the LWB website.

BTW Membership is free. [JH]