The Costa Rican rural area of the Nicoya Peninsula, presents many problems with respect to literacy and accessibility to information. It is for this cause that we started with the project of a community library, where the doors will be opened to the people of the Nicoya Peninsula. Last April we requested the help of hundreds of people for the donation of $ 5,000, what excites us is that we managed to exceed the proposed goal.
We proposed the purchase of Spanish language material, due to the fact that 80% of our library’s total bibliographic collection is in Spanish. Thinking of obtaining hundreds of books for elementary school and being able to offer a better children’s collection, we went to second hand bookstores, where we obtained great literary works of excellent publishing houses at very low prices such as Barco de Vapor, Torre de Papel, among others. We obtained great literary pieces for elementary school. We did not leave behind Costa Rican literature, in the Editorial de Costa Rica, we acquired brand new books, all the literature that the Ministry of Public Education suggests for school ages and we also got several titles for the smallest of collections with beautiful illustrations, which will catch more than one in the reading.
Thinking about the satisfaction of our teenagers, we moved on to the discounts that were found in the International Bookstore on manga, anime and youth series, more than 10 titles of these genres, which already have a waiting list in the library to be read. The youngest preschoolers were not left behind, in each of the purchases there were always books for them, but they needed a lot of love so we went to a store specializing in babies, BamoBam, and bought literary gems with the right material for their age as well as being interactive books that they needed and so authors like Eric Carle are available for these ages. Between all the book purchases, $1,400 was allocated.
In order to organize the purchase of all new acquisitions and the more than 8,000 copies that the library owns, the Destiny Follet cataloging system was installed. This system is used by the best school libraries around the world, where it is a complete library management system that can be accessed from anywhere, 24/7, which helps to strengthen the crucial link between the library, the classroom and the home. The first phase is ready, which is the creation of the online platform and user login. Now the most difficult part of the job remains, cataloging and entering each of our copies online. If you want to see how the page is looking click here. Soon it will be 100% ready for online booking. The purchase of $1,431 plus the purchase of a code scanner for $175.
The aesthetics and comfort of our current and future library users is not left behind, we have invested in the remodeling of the space with the purchase of new puff chairs for the different libraries, replacing the old ones that were in very bad condition. New shelves have been created that are more accessible to children. This is to create a more friendly and attractive space for all those who come to our facilities. Technology is not far behind and for the events that the library will hold, two new microphones were purchased.
All these advances in our project were made with the help of each of the donors and the people of Futuro Verde and Cóbano are grateful for every grain of sand received from people full of love for a better future for the community.
With hard work, it is expected that the goal of creating a community library in rural Costa Rica, can open its doors in November 2021.