World Book Day/Night

Every time I see mention of this massive give-away of books I get antsy.
Ten years - well, ten years as of September - we have been giving away books in the Netherlands and the UK and no-one is writing headlines about what we do. We are not sponsored by anyone except those few publishers who understand that sending us their foreign language reading copies and copies of their titles in translation is probably a Good Idea.

For ten years we have been giving books to organisations such as Crisis, Shelter, Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul, the Cyrenians, Womens Aid and all manner of small local groups helping refugees and those hoping to get asylum. Not to mention Barnado's, the YMCA, youth clubs and homework clubs. We continue to try to get a bookshelf into community centres and clubs, and promise to fill and refill the shelves as necessary.

Letting each place decide whether to make it a library or simply a 'free books' shelf is up to them. The main aims are (1) to prevent the destruction of perfectly good books and (2) to make books easily available to people who might not otherwise make the effort to go out and find them.
And - since we never know what we will get, if someone enjoys a book by a certain author, we can encourage them to go to the library to find more.

So, what will I be doing on World Book Day/Night? - Wishing I hadn't given away the wheelbarrow when I moved to the UK!

Our cup runneth over......

Can't believe I haven't written anything since Christmas. Things are on the move to the point of bursting... we have overflowed into an official storage space down in the valley. Staples are sending regular clear-outs of stationery and we recently received a gigantic amount of really good gel pens that everyone loves. The funding cuts in the UK means that youth services are being slashed, womens' services as well - there's probably more money for ageing donkeys now than there is for abused women.
All this means that organisations working in these areas are hugely grateful for our donations of stationery as well as books.
In some places the gifts of notebooks and pens are opening the doors for people to start thinking about putting a bookshelf where there was none. I say that we will fill it and refill it; that they can let people borrow the books and if they like them so much that they keep them - so much the better.

We have to do some fundraising - shoestrings are cool, but you still have to buy a shoestring (although we also get lots of stuff from Freecycle and use things til they can't be repainted any more). the only costs really are fuel (ugh), now storage because of the overflow, and some publicity costs - mostly cheap printing from Vistaprint. It's amazing really how much we can do for next to nothing.

I'd love to see more people starting up local Borderline Books projects - the idea works anywhere where some people have too many books and others have none. Most people do a 'cull' of their bookshelves now and then - it's so easy to pass them on.....

Next week we will receive about a ton of books from a London publisher..... more about what we get when they arrive and I dive into the boxes. I never tire of opening mystery packages of books - which is just as well!

Festive Greetings

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dashing through the snow...

well, not exactly dashing, but doing our best to get books and more treasures to local organizations for Christmas and New Year.

We seem to have some special extras each year, and this time it is lots of wonderful stationery - lovely bound notebooks in 3 sizes, ring binders, mouse mats (the kind that work!), plastic folders, box folders, paperclips, magnet-clips and lots more - all brand new. This is all thanks to a huge donation from Staples.

Many of the local organizations helping people who are temporarily homeless arrange educational courses of many different kinds. The stationery will be a big help to people following these courses or doing workshops in creative writing. We're sure that the various women's projects will also be very happy with gifts of stationery as well as books.

We can't thank Staples enough for their generosity - not only for giving us this huge gift, but for shipping it to us from The Netherlands. - Our division in Leiden also took delivery of stationery supplies and we are also expecting a further delivery of pens and pencils.

We really need to get some more projects running in different parts of the UK. It makes little sense for everything to operate from the North-East. Ideally we should have Borderline Books projects in as many major cities as we can, so that deliveries can always be local, thus eliminating the need to drive long distances or ship books up and down the country.

We'd like to wish everyone a warm and safe 2011 - with plenty of books for all.

Giving away one million books?

Giving away a million books? - Yes a great idea, but at the same time I see this is getting publishers to print (even) more books rather than helping to find a solution to the continuing issue around pulping.
On the BBC website today

Well, yes as I say, it's a good idea, but I'd far rather see some useful self-help books being passed out to women in prison or in the probation system - or books on self-expression and self-esteem. Time after time I talk to people to see what is most needed and it's not escapist fiction but tools to help them rebuild their lives.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get a site like the BBC to give a project such as ours some mega-publicity?
Of course, encouraging people to enjoy and share literature is lovely and wonderful, but I'm all too conscious of the people who need books to help them enjoy life.

How did it get as far as Valentine's Day before I wrote a new entry here? Life I guess.
As ever, things are in a State of Flux (voting next week...) - the project in Groningen is suspended indefinitely while they move to a new and much larger space. Pity - we just got a big grant for the project, but will have to return it as we can't do it within the specified time.
Tra la and so it goes...

In Leiden things continue as before, but since I am about to make tracks for England on a more permanent basis, we are in serious need of people to keep the project developing. We have one constant volunteer who patiently stamps all the books as they come in. We need more people to help with outreach and bright ideas - and to follow up our existing contacts.
Next week we will have a meeting to brainstorm about the future and have hopes that this will result in a new project starting up in the Hague by one of the organizations which makes regular use of our books.

In England we are still stuck with a store-room which is not sufficiently insulated, so are in serious need of a new space where we can also have volunteers working. We really need to take ALL the books out and have the builders in to sort out the dampness and put in decent insulation before that space can be used for anything.

But spring is on the way and that's when new projects can flourish, so keep an eye on this space and think along with us - we need new spaces everywhere! any town large enough to have people without homes needs a Borderline BookSpace.

We're looking to do some serious networking in the UK. Borderline Books is a super-flexible project and can fit with all sorts of existing projects... so let's get busy

One step forward, two steps sideways

Christmas is bearing down on us with ever increasing velocity. Books are being boxed up and made ready for shipping to various locations. On Friday several hundred books will be picked up ready for shipping to the UK. In Leiden we are expecting a visit from the Kessler Stichting who run a number of refuges and drop-in centres in the Hague. We have saved a number of special books for them to be given as Christmas and New Year gifts - with gift labels instead of the usual rubber stamp.

On Saturday last we attended a children’s party in Amsterdam for mainly Surinamese and Antillian children avoiding the customary Dutch phenomenon of Zwarte Piet. This ‘tradition’ involves the servant of St Nicholas, generally played by white people in blackface (a la Al Jolson), jerry curls and velvet puff pants and tights. He tends to be the fool and magically generally has a Surinamese accent. In spite of all this, some people try to say that Zwarte Piet is not ‘really black’ he got dirty coming down the chimney… well, um, did he get lipstick and a perm on the way down and why are his clothes spotlessly clean? The origins of this curious piece of Dutch folklore are shrouded in mystery and excuses. It may even date back to the days when St Nicholas was considered to have been accompanied by the devil - represented as, surprise, a Black man.

The fact that this racist tradition persists in the 21st century should perhaps not surprise us in a country that was so tardy in abolishing slavery. But the fact that at the main Schiphol airport you rarely if ever see Zwarte Piet suggests that the Dutch know perfectly well the image is offensive to many. The idea that each year Black children in Dutch schools are teased and made fun of around this time is distressing to some and infuriating to others. Zwarte Piet is represented in caricatures on wrapping paper, mobiles, stickers, cookies and chocolate as a figure akin to a golliwog – a figure which long been seen as a racist image in the UK.

Nonetheless, this party was fun, the children enjoyed themselves and we gave away more than 200 books in just a few hours. This the second time we’ve given books as presents at this party and I hope we’ll find a way to continue this much more positive tradition in the future.

We'd like to give special thanks to the Arbeiderspers and Querido who donated a huge number of books for the fourth year in succession . We are always truly thankful for this gift of quality literature, non-fiction and children's books.