What we do!
Maria’s Libraries is committed to promoting a library network in Kenya. We are currently engaged in three primary activities.
Building libraries!
Currently, our main work involves building a modern, fully equipped community library in Busia, Kenya, which we hope will serve as a model library for similar initiatives in other parts of the country. For this project, we work primarily through Family Support Services, a community based organization in Busia which has been running a community library in a rented space for several years. We are also working with the Kenya National Library Services, who have been successfully running a network of public libraries for over 50 years.
Networking libraries!
Libraries on their own are important and powerful sources of information. But together, they can do even more—they can share resources and ideas, and collaborate on a national scale. There are currently 55 libraries networked through the Kenya National Library Services. There are many more libraries outside the public library system, but no one’s quite sure how many. We’d like to start networking public and community libraries in Kenya. First, however, we need to know how many there are! Working with several other library-related organizations in Kenya, we will build a directory of allof the libraries in Kenya. If you know of any, please email us! We will then work towards networking them, virtually and through programming.
Promoting libraries and reading!
Our work at local and national levels to promote libraries and reading in Kenya is based on two ideas. First, sustaining libraries in any country relies on philanthropic networks of “friends.” At home in the States, we’re working to develop an international friends networks; however, we are also assisting the development of a Kenyan friends network as well. Second, our partners in Busia have underlined to us that building libraries is part of the larger goal of promoting a reading culture. We therefore actively promote reading at the local and national level, through events like reading tents for school children, and through competitions and other activities in conjunction with Kenya’s domestic publishers.
Maria's Libraries is a registered 501(c)3 organization and all contributions are tax deductible.