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ALF IN THAILAND
Books for Thailand
Books for Thailand (BfT) distributes about 80,000 new, English-language texts each year to libraries throughout Thailand. The books cover kindergarten through graduate school, and cover all areas of study. The books are donated to The Asia Foundation (TAF), which then passes them on to BfT, which then donates them to provincial libraries, usually at primary and secondary schools. These books are in high demand by teachers in all areas, e.g., the sciences -- not just English, because they are far more attractive than Thai-language texts, and schools cannot afford English-language texts. Teachers use them as references, or students use them for schoolwork or recreational reading. A school in Phuket used them to determine the level of English competency of students; a teacher used them as reference material for his Master’s program; Mae Fah Luang University, in Chiang Rai, regularly uses them to stock their libraries, in all areas. They’ve been carried in on backpack to read to hill tribes children; Peace Corps Volunteers use them to teach English. Books come to BfT continuously in 5-6 containers per year. Though the books themselves are free of cost to BfT, they must pay for ocean shipping from Oakland, CA; customs clearing; shipping to their premises in Bangkok plus salaries for 3 staff to sort, stamp, store, and display the books. They estimate their “return on investment” at an amazing 6,566.67% per year, based on the value of donated texts divided by their operating budget. Annika Linden Foundation has funded a new “travel grant” program which will pay the traveling costs of upcountry school library representatives to come to Bangkok to select the books they need. The objective is to enable provincial libraries to be able to access BfT books without having to go through the budget bureaucracy. These grants will cover the cost of a round-trip tour bus ticket from the recipient’s city of employment, one night’s accommodation, three meals, and taxi fare to and from the Bangkok bus station.
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