From: Chris Orr (christineorr@mindspring.com)
Date: Mon Jul 25 2005 - 09:54:30 PDT
Message-ID: <24125287.1122310470826.JavaMail.root@wamui-valley.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 09:54:30 -0700 (GMT-07:00) From: Chris Orr <christineorr@mindspring.com> Subject: Librarians without Borders (news)
Posted on behalf of Gayle Kiss
Past-President, Toronto Chapter
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Simmons
Media Liaison Librarians Without Borders
Email: librarianswithoutborders@yahoo.ca
Tel: 519-673-7007
Librarians without Borders Kicks off first international Mission by
organizing Angolan medical library
Canadian university student volunteers move international community to help
London, ON – July 21, 2005 – Librarians without Borders, a non-profit
organization based in London, Ontario, has kicked off its first
international mission by organizing a much-needed medical library in Huambo,
Angola. The project is designed to help the country begin to build a health
care system that is a basic element of any civil society.
Librarians Without Borders (LWB) was founded by University of Western
Ontario student in Library Science, Melanie Sellar. After working with a
graduate student from Angola named Jorge Chimbinda, Melanie was moved to
action by his stories of the many problems stemming from a twenty-seven year
civil war. Angola’s civil war ended in 2002 but it left the country and its
infrastructure devastated.
“LWB is unique from many other library-development programs because its
objective is to provide essential information resources in the local
languages of the country or region,” said Melanie Sellar, President of LWB.
“By focusing aid on specific projects, Librarians Without Borders will give
its stakeholders a clear sense of what their support is achieving by
providing a detailed plan of action and continual updates about how a
project is progressing. In this way, we hope to give people the confidence
that their support is really effective and a sense of participation in the
process of social progress.”
Canadians often feel an urge to play a role in global affairs but may be
cautious about donating to developing countries without a clear sense of
what this aid will achieve. As an alternative to aid donations, LWB intends
to build partnerships with medical textbook publishers to help develop a
medical library that will assist Angola in building its medical profession.
The Angola project marks the organization’s first international mission. LWB
will focus on the Southern African nation’s city of Huambo, where Portuguese
is an official language. A building purchased by the Catholic Mission in
Huambo has been repaired and is ready to function as a medical library for
the University of Agostinho Neto, but it is lacking essential resources such
as medical textbooks to stock the facility.
To learn more about LWB and to subscribe to our mailing, visit
www.lwb-online.org <http://www.lwb-online.org/> . If you are interested in
donating to or partnering with LWB, please send an e-mail to Heather
McDonald (Chair) or Melanie Sellar (President) at
librarianswithoutborders@yahoo.ca.
About Librarians Without Borders
Located in London, Ontario, Librarians Without Borders is a non-profit
organization that gives Canadians an opportunity to assist with
international development. The organization works with community
organizations in developing countries to provide access to the information
resources that are crucial to their economic and cultural development.
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