Application Form to receive books in January-March 2009
Application from the website February 2008 Books For Africa Library Project
Dear Applicant,
If you are interested in establishing a library for your community, please write to the following address for an application. Once you receive the application, complete all of the requirements listed below, document them with photographs showing the building, the interior with at least 15 bookshelves, fans, lights, tables and benches, get the signatures of your Library Board members, and then mail the completed application with photographs of completed items.
Please note: All new applicants should have Board of Directors who will manage the library. Each member is now required to sign an affidavit that she or he is willing to accept the post and the responsibilities that come with it. Your application will be reviewed and a Tentative Acceptance letter will be sent. We will then have a final meeting with you in December to confirm your acceptance. Please provide accurate and honest answers. Send overseas letters airmail. Applications should reach us by August 31st, 2008 to be considered to receive books in 2009.
Mail to: Books For Africa Library Project, P.O. Box 4049, Copley, OH 44321, USA
Document One---for your records: Criteria for the recipients of books from us:
Books For Africa is a non-profit organization founded by a Ghanaian woman and her American husband, Hilda and Kirt Bromley. They receive no help from the U.S. government, but rather seek donations of books and money for shipping from friends, churches and the general public. Their budget is very small, so communities in Ghana must bear part of the cost of establishing libraries.
Books For Africa will provide donated books free of cost to those places which:
a. Show widespread support among the people in residence there. Every library should have a local Board of Trustees most of whom live in the town.
b. Provide a building to house the library books in, and take care of the rent and maintenance on the building;
c. Provide at least 15 stacks of shelves for the books to be donated
(calculate 200 books per bookshelf which is 6 feet 6 inches tall, 4 feet wide
and 12 inches deep with 5 shelves in each stack of shelves; each shelf of the
stack should be at least 13 inches high to allow room for tall books). Evidence
of the bookshelves photographed in your library building should be included in
the completed application. If the shelves are of different dimensions than the
above then calculate 300 linear feet shelf space as a minimum. We allow ten
books per foot of shelf space. We insist on a minimum of 300 linear feet to hold
3000 books.
d. Provide tables and benches for the public to come and sit and read; 6 tables at least 5 feet long and three feet or more wide with benches
e. Provide overhead fans to circulate the air and reduce mildew in the books (the more air circulating the better), and sufficient fluorescent lights.
f. Pay for a librarian to keep the library open at least 40 hours a week.
h. We recommend that the users of the library not be allowed to borrow books and take them from the library; all study and reading should be done on the premises.
i. The community will bear the cost of the above library structure, and the cost of transporting the items from Kukurantumi-Akim to your town, and of hosting Kirt and Hilda while they help you set up the library. Preference will be given to sites in rural areas, and to those that have widespread local management committees, and meet all the criteria above.
(Application from the website February 2008)
Mail this page in with photographs
Send completed application with photographs and signatures to Books For Africa Library Project.
1. Application Form for :__________________________________(your town)
2. Date of application: _________________________
A. Organize a Board of Trustees for your library. Have each person state their name, address, phone number, e-mail and signature below. Try to include a board range of people who live locally. They should include a traditional ruler, a business man and woman, a male or female teacher, a member of the District Assembly and other local men and women who have an interest in maintaining a local library.
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Place a star next to the person who will be the contact person to us. Additional Board member names may be written on the back.
B. What are the hours of operation of the library?
C. Will there be a charge to people who use the library?
D. Will you use the library as a resource center and not lend out the books?
E. How will you obtain funds to pay the librarian and the rent and light for the library?
F. Describe your town and the proposed or actual site of the library in relation to other landmarks in the town, such as chief’s palace, town hall, market, secondary or J.S.S.
Checklist of items that have been completed _______________(name of your town)
I. Show widespread support among the people in residence there. Every library should have a local Board of Trustees most of whom live in the town. Do you have 8 men and women who will make up your Board? ________
We recommend that you include some of the leading women from your town on your board. Also include a traditional ruler or sub-chief, a businessman or woman, a male or female teacher, a local politician, retired male or female educationists, and other responsible citizens.
II. Provide a building to house the library books in, and take care of the rent and maintenance on the building;
Is the building or room completed and ready to be used as a library? ______________
III. Provide bookshelves for the books to be donated (calculate 200 books per bookshelf which is 6 feet 6 inches tall, 4 feet wide and 12 inches deep with 5 shelves in each bookshelf; each shelf of the stack should be at least 12 inches high to allow room for tall books)
Are the bookshelves completed? ___________ How many? ___________
Total Number of linear feet of shelf space? : _______________________
IV. Provide tables and benches for the public to come and sit and read; 6 tables at least 5 feet long and three feet or more wide with benches.
Are the tables and benches built? ________
Number of tables and benches:__________
V. Provide overhead fans to circulate the air and reduce mildew in the books (the more air circulating the better), and provide sufficient fluorescent lights that people can easily read by.
Are your lights and fans complete? ______
Number of lights: _______________ Number of fans: _____________
VI. Pay for a librarian to keep the library open at least 40 hours a week.
Have you engaged a librarian yet? ______________
Name of librarian: ______________________________
VII. Who has agreed to pay the librarian’s salary? _____________________________________________________________________
VII. We strongly recommend that the users of the library not be allowed to borrow books and take them from the library; all study and ready should be done on the premises.
Do you agree to this practice? _________________
VIII. The community will bear the cost of the above library structure, and the cost of transporting the items from Kukurantumi-Akim to your town, and of hosting Kirt and Hilda while they help you set up the library.
Do you agree? ________________________
Note: All the items on this list should be completed when you formally apply for books.
Mail this completed and signed form with photographs showing at least 15 bookshelves, benches, tables and benches, lights and fan to Books For Africa Library Project, P.O. Box 4049, Copley, OH 44321 USA
Keep a copy of this for your records.
Time-line of the application process: (for your records):
The application process consists of the following steps:
Step One: Write or e-mail Books For Africa for an Application Form. This registers you with us.
Step Two: Fill out the Application Form, complete all the requirements on the checklist and provide proof in the form of photographs of completed shelves (at least 15 stacks of shelves), tables, benches, lights and fan (note dimensions of each stack of shelves: 6 feet 6 inches tall, four feet wide, and each shelf is thirteen inches tall). Send the application with Board member signatures and the photographs to Books For Africa before the application cut-off date.
Step Three: Once we have received your application with the photographs, we will send you a Tentative Acceptance Letter.
This letter means that you will be placed on our list of towns receiving books pending confirmation of the requirements.
Step Four: Final confirmation of our commitment to grant you books will come after an in-service in Kukurantumi in December for those libraries invited. We will make a final review of your application to confirm all of the requirements are met.
Step Five: Once you have received final confirmation at our December meeting we will ask that your Board send two members to attend the in-service for all libraries held at Kukurantumi in January. Ideally the representatives sent to the meeting should be the proposed librarian and one of the Board of Trustees of the library. In the absence of the librarian, two Board members may attend. At the annual in-service you should meet with Mr. and Mrs. Bromley to arrange a date when you will send a lorry to pick up the books.
Step Six: On the date given by the Bromleys you should bring a lorry for the loading of the books. You are responsible for paying the cost of transporting your books to your town. If your town is far from Kukurantumi, it would be a good idea to arrange with the Bromleys to come the evening before so that we load early in the morning of the day appointed to receive the books. We have a full schedule, so if you fail to appear on the date arranged, you may forfeit receiving the books in that year.
Step Seven: The Bromleys will travel with your lorry to your town and help place the donated books into the correct library organization. Please have your Board Members on hand to have a short meeting with the Bromleys before they begin setting up the library. It normally takes a day and a half to set up the library depending on the number of books donated.
Step Eight: The Bromleys will meet with the entire membership of your Library Board and discuss Library Operation Procedures and the Dewey Decimal Cataloguing of the books.
Step Nine: We recommend that the Library Board Members have a Grand Opening of the “new” library in order to invite all of the schools and available adults to have a tour of the new books in the library. Making the community aware of the new resource is one of the main jobs of the Library Board as they start their work.
