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Many Chinese libraries have limited budget to buy foreign language books. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an available and cheaper suggestion for the budgets of small libraries' foreign language books acquisition.

This paper discusses the benefits of selecting donated books and takes some small libraries in China as examples to conduct the case study.

Advantages of selecting donated books include: quick arrival, lower cost, and a variety of title selections. Disadvantages are: no book list, long distance, unsatisfied selection.

Donated books in one's purchasing program can substantially expand the range and amount of materials that libraries are able to collect.

This paper will be useful to any library facing budget cuts as well as looking for ways to continually provide a wide variety of library materials.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of international library materials aid in primary schools and to outline obstacles to effective utilization for maximum literacy benefits among primary school children.

Data were gathered via interviews, observation, focus group discussions and document analyses.

Findings indicate that teachers were trained by Kenya National Library Services Kisii Branch staff on basics of library materials management before literacy materials were sent to the schools; teachers and pupils reported that development of vocabulary and better essay writing are some of the benefits of the donated materials; and culturally distanced materials and school dynamics impact negatively on the effective utilization of the donated library resources.

The authors recommend that donors work hand in hand with the Ministry of Education and other local stakeholders that it may be possible to address obstacles to proper and highly effective implementation of literacy empowerment projects.

The findings of this study are from original research and the implications must be treated as such.

The Ranfurly Library Service recently changed its name to Book Aid International. Describes the activities of the charity with particular emphasis on matching books supplied with specific requirements within developing countries. Gives specific examples of aid projects providing books to different requirements within developing countries and of the importance of the aid to those countries.

To define the elements of a gift books policy.

Research based on a review of library gift policies.

Provides libraries with general guidelines as to what should be included in a gift book policy.

Provides assistance to libraries to find a way to explain to prospective donors how the library handles donations and gifts.

The purpose of this case is to introduce the topic of socially responsible investing from both the investor and investee perspectives. The students will walk away with an understanding of 1) how to evaluate a portfolio company on a social/environmental mission and on traditional financial criteria, and 2) what considerations should be top of mind for a social venture considering accepting an equity investment. Wes Selke is a portfolio manager at Good Capital, an investment fund created to increase the flow of capital to innovative nonprofit and for-profit social ventures that are using market-based solutions to solve problems of poverty, illiteracy, and inequality. In 2007, Good Capital is ready to make its first growth equity investment in a for-profit social enterprise and Selke is considering Better World Books as the firm's primary target. Selke must evaluate whether or not the firm is a financially sound investment and if its social and environmental missions can be preserved upon a liquidation event. If Good Capital proceeds with the investment, Selke must also rework some of Better World Books' current procedures, including fine-tuning the philanthropic giving strategy that is the main component of its social mission.

To expose students to both the investor and investee perspectives in social venture capital (SVC) deal ensuring they understand the criteria that must be considered when evaluating a potential investment in a for-profit social enterprise (investor perspective) and know what questions to ask both the investor and your organization before accepting an equity investment (investee perspective). To emphasize the importance of structuring a deal so that the social/environmental mission of a portfolio company is preserved upon exit.

This paper aims to examine the trend of resource development at the University of Calabar Library, using gift items received from 2005 to 2009.

The study adopts a descriptive research design based on survey. Relevant documents, including gift and donation files, acquisition records and library accession registers, were examined and analysed to provide answers to questions relating to study objectives.

The usefulness of gifts to university library resource development is underscored by the quality and currency of the 2,462 volumes of materials received during the study period. Furthermore, the impact that collaborative donor efforts could make towards supporting university library resource development in the information age is highlighted. Associated problems included deficiency in subject coverage, foreign language materials, irregular giving patterns as well as an increasing tendency towards electronic resources acquisition where manual procedures are available.

Acquisition librarians should intensify efforts at soliciting for and directing corporate giving endeavours towards providing for infrastructural support required for university library development in Nigeria. The deficiency in subject coverage highlighted in the study can be addressed if donor agencies are encouraged to adopt relevant library profiles or assign grants to core areas of university academic programs. There is also need for the inclusion or revision of gift statements in collection development policies.

The paper highlights strategies for tackling the challenges of resource acquisition.

Research into the library as place investigates the role of public library buildings as destinations, physical places where people go for various reasons ranging from making use of the library's resources and services or seeking to fulfill an information or reading need to less easily identified reasons that may include using the library's building as a place to make social or business contacts, to build or reinforce community or political ties, or to create or reinforce a personal identity. This study asks: How are one rural US public library system's newly constructed buildings functioning as places? The answer is derived from answers to sub-questions about adult library users, user, and staff perceptions of library use, and observed use of library facilities. The findings are contextualized using a framework built of theories from human geography, sociology, and information studies.

This case study replicates a mixed-methods case study conducted at the main public libraries in Toronto and Vancouver in the late1990s and first reproduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2006. It tests methods used in large urban settings in a rural, small-town environment. This study also expands on its antecedents by using thematic analysis to determine which conceptualizations of the role of the public library as place are most relevant to the community under investigation.

The study relies on quantitative and qualitative data collected via surveys and interviews of adult library users, interviews of library public service staff members, structured observations of people using the libraries, and analysis of selected administrative documents. The five sets of data are triangulated to answer the research sub-questions.

Thematic analysis grounded in the conceptual framework finds that public realm theory best contextualizes the relationships that develop between library staff members and adult library users over time. The study finds that the libraries serve their communities as informational places and as familiarized locales rather than as third places, and that the libraries facilitate the generation of social capital for their users.

This paper aims to investigate the success and suitability of a Western‐donated school library in furthering the aims of literacy and reader development in Malawi.

A qualitative, case study approach was taken using extensive interviews with school teachers and a library assistant at a primary school in Malawi.

Contrary to a common discourse that libraries are of limited value in a predominantly oral culture, the research revealed a valuable role in providing sources for sharing knowledge by young readers with the non‐literate. Limitations of the library under study included insufficient attention to reader development and inappropriateness of materials for the local context.

The work reveals important shortcomings in furthering global literacy targets through current practice in African primary school libraries supported by international donors and non‐governmental organisations. Recommendations to improve impact are given.

This research is original in representing the voices of school teachers in the debate over the suitability of libraries for the African context and in evaluating the overseas book donation model currently practised in many locations.

Examines the roles played by various international and government organizations in the development of libraries in Ghana. Argues some justification for the continued reliance on external assistance in Ghana′s library development, despite the controversial nature of such assistance. Concludes that all government efforts should be made to supplement external assistance in the development of libraries in Ghana.

The paper aims to focus on the “Window of Shanghai”, a cooperative program initiated by Shanghai Library that aims to connect people and promote understanding, by the donation of new books published in China to foreign libraries, especially those that are functioning as the major local information gateway for people of various communities and/or with different cultural origins.

The paper is a review of the program.

The paper shows that the purpose of the program, to cooperate with overseas partners – public libraries and other information institutions – to introduce and spread Chinese language and culture through the donation of Chinese domestic publications, has provided opportunities and future challenges. The program has helped Chinese migrants around the world to be better understood and identified, and has contributed to aiding the continuation of their languages, customs and traditions in subsequent generations.

The paper provides information on a program that is helping to spread Chinese language and culture.