I realize I haven't written much before about the USAID Small Project Assistance (SPA) grant Diana Pasho, our school librarian, and I won to build a library for Jani Vreto. We're close to concluding the grant, so here follows the backstory:
I began working with Jani Vreto's librarian, Diana Pasho, and with our director, Veli Xhelili, in September 2010 to build a new school library. Our old "library" was a mildewed, lightless storage room stuffed with decaying books and collapsing chemistry cabinets. The school had the potential for a functioning and attractive library, but lacked the financial means. To rectify the situation, Diana and I applied for a USAID Small Project Assitance (SPA) grant. We won a SPA grant in the April 2011 application round and finally received the funds in July 2011. Our proposed project sought to build a new, COOL (please don't judge my vocabulary use - it IS cool) library and to stock it with attractive, modern literature for adolescents in Shqip and in English. We began library construction, technology training, and collection expansion last summer. The projected project conclusion date is early February 2012.
Diana and I founded a student group called "The Friends of the Library" (Miqte e Bibliotekes) last spring while writing the grant to foster student ownership of the project, to contribute to library-related decision-making, and to help with project implementation and daily operations.
Since August 2010, we've been building an English language literature collection solely with donations from friends in the US. Notably, a US shipping company called DHL agreed to work with the Capital Region Education Council (CREC), one of our donors in Connecticut, to facilitate FREE transport of a major shipment. We now have about 250 English texts. With SPA funds, we also ordered $1,000 worth of new Albanian-language books to update our permanent collection in Fall 2011. This order included classics, but put emphasis on the likes of Harry Potter, Twilight, The Golden Compass, and more popular literature designed to reinvigorate student interest in reading for pleasure.
Diana, myself, and the Miqte have developed Excel catalogues of our collections and are creating a physical card catalogue. We worked hard over the late summer months to alphabetize and sort our standing collection by genre. We reclassified the books by author's LAST name, which is a new system for Albania. We also established careful cataloguing and borrowing rules for the library.
In late Summer/early Fall 2011, we relocated the library to its new home. October 2011 was the Grand Opening month, promoted new Albanian language and English language literature and educated students on proper library use and new systems. The space is painted a warm cream, lined with honey-colored bookshelves bolted to two of the walls and wide, double bookcases marching down the center of the room. The fourth wall - all windows - is covered with donated lemon-colored curtains to protect the books and keep the room cool. Students and teachers donated plants to line the windowsills. School-donated reading tables and chairs were in place by mid-September 2011.
Diana, the Miqte, and I hold library hours during the daily school recess and four additional hours a week. The Miqte are primarily responsible for facilitating lending, maintaining the bookshelves and classification system, keeping the library clean, and updating recods. We're all still plugging away at the card catalogue. Diana's currently working on an Albanian language curricular module with upperclassmen using the library's resources. I'm working on a tree of knowledge mural for the back wall and slowly collecting and mounting posters, quotes, and maps to decorate the walls.
Our school custodian and sometimes electrician fixed all of the wiring for free, so we have enjoyed lighting sufficient to brighten the dreary days of winter. My most persistent worry was that the radiators clinging to wall below the windows would cough, shiver, and give up the ghost mid-way through winter, but they have instead exceeded expectations and kept us warm.
Fast forward to January 2012: Visa and I are planning an English book report module for the upcoming Spring 2012 semester. We'll see what happens! All of our 9th grade English students will read one English novel from the library, prepare a book report and visual representation of the novel, and answer questions about the text in an oral interview by the end of the semester. Realization of that goal would be a coup. My service began with a school entirely lacking a functional library, never mind English language literature. It now has the potential to end with a REAL library and English literature module.
Just a few more cosmetic touches to the space and card catalogue. We've also a long overdue trip to the bank in Erseke on the calendar so we can finish balancing expenditures for the grant report. The swiftly-approaching conclusion of the grant merits a HURRAH! Diana and the Miqte have committed a great deal of time and effort to administering the library since it opened in September 2011. I wouldn't dare to wonder what this project would've looked like without the Friends. Project design and management without a motivated, intelligent, and resourceful working team is a hideous prospect. Shudder. Thanks to the students, I am really truly confident that the library will continue to grow under Diana's supervision and serve the Jani Vreto community long after I've left Albania.
Until my Close of Service sometime in May 2012, we'll continue to independently collect funds for a several improvements we couldn't cover with the grant budget. Together they rather read like a "seriously, Molly? SERIOUSLY?" wish list: add a corkboard for posting student work and announcements, replace the door with one that doesn't require a shoulder to shove open and a knee to slam shut, acquire additional Albanian language books, equip Diana with a real desk, locate a reasonably-priced and well-functioning BUT used laptop to house our electronic catalogue. That's a bit expensive. Think we can do it?
If you would like to donate books to our ever-growing English language collection, please take yourself over to the nearest USPS office, purchase a $50 flat rate box, pack tightly, and ship to:
Molly Douglas
Bulevardi Fan S. Noli
Godina X
Leksovik
Albania
Venture onto our library page at: http://janivretoschoollibrary.shutterfly.com/
Some library progress pictures below!
I began working with Jani Vreto's librarian, Diana Pasho, and with our director, Veli Xhelili, in September 2010 to build a new school library. Our old "library" was a mildewed, lightless storage room stuffed with decaying books and collapsing chemistry cabinets. The school had the potential for a functioning and attractive library, but lacked the financial means. To rectify the situation, Diana and I applied for a USAID Small Project Assitance (SPA) grant. We won a SPA grant in the April 2011 application round and finally received the funds in July 2011. Our proposed project sought to build a new, COOL (please don't judge my vocabulary use - it IS cool) library and to stock it with attractive, modern literature for adolescents in Shqip and in English. We began library construction, technology training, and collection expansion last summer. The projected project conclusion date is early February 2012.
Diana and I founded a student group called "The Friends of the Library" (Miqte e Bibliotekes) last spring while writing the grant to foster student ownership of the project, to contribute to library-related decision-making, and to help with project implementation and daily operations.
Since August 2010, we've been building an English language literature collection solely with donations from friends in the US. Notably, a US shipping company called DHL agreed to work with the Capital Region Education Council (CREC), one of our donors in Connecticut, to facilitate FREE transport of a major shipment. We now have about 250 English texts. With SPA funds, we also ordered $1,000 worth of new Albanian-language books to update our permanent collection in Fall 2011. This order included classics, but put emphasis on the likes of Harry Potter, Twilight, The Golden Compass, and more popular literature designed to reinvigorate student interest in reading for pleasure.
Diana, myself, and the Miqte have developed Excel catalogues of our collections and are creating a physical card catalogue. We worked hard over the late summer months to alphabetize and sort our standing collection by genre. We reclassified the books by author's LAST name, which is a new system for Albania. We also established careful cataloguing and borrowing rules for the library.
In late Summer/early Fall 2011, we relocated the library to its new home. October 2011 was the Grand Opening month, promoted new Albanian language and English language literature and educated students on proper library use and new systems. The space is painted a warm cream, lined with honey-colored bookshelves bolted to two of the walls and wide, double bookcases marching down the center of the room. The fourth wall - all windows - is covered with donated lemon-colored curtains to protect the books and keep the room cool. Students and teachers donated plants to line the windowsills. School-donated reading tables and chairs were in place by mid-September 2011.
Diana, the Miqte, and I hold library hours during the daily school recess and four additional hours a week. The Miqte are primarily responsible for facilitating lending, maintaining the bookshelves and classification system, keeping the library clean, and updating recods. We're all still plugging away at the card catalogue. Diana's currently working on an Albanian language curricular module with upperclassmen using the library's resources. I'm working on a tree of knowledge mural for the back wall and slowly collecting and mounting posters, quotes, and maps to decorate the walls.
Our school custodian and sometimes electrician fixed all of the wiring for free, so we have enjoyed lighting sufficient to brighten the dreary days of winter. My most persistent worry was that the radiators clinging to wall below the windows would cough, shiver, and give up the ghost mid-way through winter, but they have instead exceeded expectations and kept us warm.
Fast forward to January 2012: Visa and I are planning an English book report module for the upcoming Spring 2012 semester. We'll see what happens! All of our 9th grade English students will read one English novel from the library, prepare a book report and visual representation of the novel, and answer questions about the text in an oral interview by the end of the semester. Realization of that goal would be a coup. My service began with a school entirely lacking a functional library, never mind English language literature. It now has the potential to end with a REAL library and English literature module.
Just a few more cosmetic touches to the space and card catalogue. We've also a long overdue trip to the bank in Erseke on the calendar so we can finish balancing expenditures for the grant report. The swiftly-approaching conclusion of the grant merits a HURRAH! Diana and the Miqte have committed a great deal of time and effort to administering the library since it opened in September 2011. I wouldn't dare to wonder what this project would've looked like without the Friends. Project design and management without a motivated, intelligent, and resourceful working team is a hideous prospect. Shudder. Thanks to the students, I am really truly confident that the library will continue to grow under Diana's supervision and serve the Jani Vreto community long after I've left Albania.
Until my Close of Service sometime in May 2012, we'll continue to independently collect funds for a several improvements we couldn't cover with the grant budget. Together they rather read like a "seriously, Molly? SERIOUSLY?" wish list: add a corkboard for posting student work and announcements, replace the door with one that doesn't require a shoulder to shove open and a knee to slam shut, acquire additional Albanian language books, equip Diana with a real desk, locate a reasonably-priced and well-functioning BUT used laptop to house our electronic catalogue. That's a bit expensive. Think we can do it?
If you would like to donate books to our ever-growing English language collection, please take yourself over to the nearest USPS office, purchase a $50 flat rate box, pack tightly, and ship to:
Molly Douglas
Bulevardi Fan S. Noli
Godina X
Leksovik
Albania
Venture onto our library page at: http://janivretoschoollibrary.shutterfly.com/
Some library progress pictures below!
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| The original "library" |
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| Starting on the new space |
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| Receiving and sorting donations |
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| Bookcases! |
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| New Library!!! October 2011 |
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| Friends of the Library - Miqte e Bibliotekes |
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| Paint thanks to PCVs Richie and Michele in Puka. Still need some white, though, so we can create some definition and make it look less like something out of The Wizard of Oz! Leaves up next. |
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