Books for Development is Global. Discover our library accomplishments in North, Central, and South America!
Summary of Libraries in The Americas
Libraries in Guyana
Guyana is a former British colony and the only country in South America which has English as its official language. While recent discoveries in oil offer potential for significant economic development, the country still has a significant, largely rural population that is lacking books.
The Spanish Oil company, Repsol, which also has significant operations in Houston, was kind enough to facilitate a container of books—around 40,000 and has since helped establish many libraries with these books.
Libraries in Jamaica
Working with an expat friend of ours met at the Houston Food Bank, Books for Development shipped around 20,000 books to Jamaica which were used to establish 6 libraries in the Blue Mountains in Jamaica.
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Libraries in Belize & Guatemala
Books for development has made three shipments of books to Belize and in the process has helped to establish approximately 30 libraries in and around Belize City, the Cayo District and also made a significant donation of books to the National Library system.
In 2020, a group of 11 volunteers visited Belize to help establish a number of libraries. This effort was supported by an Eagle Scout Project that assisted in collecting sorting and boxing the books. As part of a subsequent shipment, a pallet of books was sent to a special non-profit named Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta that serves a particularly disadvantaged population in Guatemala.
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Native American Reservation Libraries
Books for Development has established two libraries on Native American lands. The first involved our shipping books to the Plains Indians in South Dakota. The second involved a shipment of books to Coquille Indian Tribe, Coos Bay, Oregon. We continue to be interested in similar additional projects.
Harris County Jails - Houston, Texas
Books for Development is one of, if not the largest, consistent donor of books to the Harris County Jail. For security reasons, the jail accepts soft covered paperback books only, and this dovetails well with our strong preference to send hard covered books abroad (because they last so much longer). We strongly believe that our substantial population at local jails (approaching 10,000 inmates at any given time) are better off, as is our community as a whole, with inmates given the opportunity to read.
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