Let's Talk

Hi there!  Yep, I'm talking to you.  I have lots of things in the works for the Library Project, but nothing pressing this week - so I want to have a chat.  Email me, call me, write me, comment below.  I want to know about you; who you are, what you do, what you like about the blog and the project.  If you have a question, I want to answer it.  If you have a comment, I want to hear it.  I don't run this project alone.  I do it with a lot of help from my board members, and from you, so I want to hear your thoughts.  Together, we can build a Library Project that goes beyond La Entrada - so let's talk.

Media Update: Radio News

This Friday (2/20) tune your computerized radio dial to www.brandywineradio.com between 10 and 12 a.m. Eastern time for a story on the Library Project by Brandywine Radio reporter Sarah McGlinchey!  

If you catch the story, let me know what you thought in the comments.  Thank you for your interest and support.  More updates as they happen!

Background: FAQ

Where is the library located?

In La Entrada, Honduras, in the northern mountain range near Honduras' border with Guatemala. La Entrada is a large commercial center, home to almost 40,000 people in a nation of 7.5 million.

What is the library like?

It is currently in a storefront space owned by the city, located across the street from La Entrada's municipal complex in the city center. It has more nearly 2,000 books and averages 200 patrons each month. Many of these are students who use the library as a resource for homework, enrichment, or just pleasure reading.

Does the library have multimedia capabilities?

Not yet. Once renovations to the municipal building are complete, the library will move to a

larger space there. At that time, we would like to aquire more computers, learning software, and

phonics learning equipment for the library to help its patrons satisfy a wider range of needs.

Do you take used books?

Yes, but because the people of La Entrada speak and read Spanish, we do not accept books written in English.

How can I help?

Right now we are focused on maintaining the library and making a smooth transition to municipal control in February, 2011. If you would like to arrange for a speaking engagement, donate, or ask for more information, please contact Anne Hawkins.

Email: laentradalibraryproject@gmail.com

Telephone: 610-405-5452

Mail: 502 Dilworth Farm Lane

West Chester, PA 19382

and check back frequently for more updates here on our blog.

Photo by Teresa Hawkins

Update: Current Events

You'd have to be fairly oblivious to have missed the fiscal crisis that has shaken the U.S. - and most of the world - over the last six months.  Everyone is feeling the pinch and looking for ways to stretch their dollars.  Donations have gone down in recent months, and I have hesitated to solicit more because, frankly, now is not the time.  

The problem, however, is not what we all know, but what goes unnoticed.  Honduras is a developing nation, and barely a blip on the radar for national news in the U.S., taking up less space than Pennsylvania, with a population  just under 7.5 million.  

Honduras relies very heavily on exports to the U.S., and as our economy goes, so does theirs.  The situation is amplified, however, by the high rate of unemployment, estimated at almost 30%, and by extreme income desparity between the average worker and the small, wealthy class that owns many of the factories and large farms in the nation.  (You can read more about that in the CIA's World Factbook.)  Since December 2008, the instability has increased as President Jose Manuel Zelaya ordered a 60% increase in the minimum wage for workers in urban areas.  The factory and company owners are protesting because their businesses can't handle the increase, and the workers who benefit are trying to keep as much of the raise as they can, with both groups protesting in front of the Supreme Court.  (If you would like to learn more and can read Spanish, I recommend looking this information up with El Heraldo, one of the major newspapers in Honduras.  Most English-language news outlets aren't covering these stories.)

The important part of all this for the Library Project is that, first of all, we have to increase the wages we are paying the librarian.  If we don't, we may be subject to the $1,300 fine for each instance.  As we near the end of our financial commitment to the library this August, our funds are dwindling.  Also, the city of La Entrada, which is supposed to take over the library's expenses in August, wrote their budget for 2009 in October, when the financial crisis was only beginning.  Right now, the future of the Public Library of La Entrada is uncertain, just like almost everything else, but I and the board members of the La Entrada Library Project are committed to keeping it open however we can.  And although I know that you, like me, may be counting pennies, I'd like to ask you to consider giving a few dollars if you are able.  Just five dollars is a small commitment for most of the library project's supporters, but if everyone who has supported it in the past were to give that much now, it would extend the time we could support the library by several months, hopefully long enough for Honduras (and the world) to regain its fiscal footing.

Background: How the Library Project Got Started

If you are just learning about the La Entrada Library Project, you may wonder how it began.  The questions abound: How did I find La Entrada?  What inspired the project?  How did we get the money?  Hopefully, this brief history of the Library Project will answer all your questions, and help you get more familiar with what it is and what it does.  (I know it seems long, but it spans several years.)

I am a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church of West Chester, Pennsylvania.  Westminster has had an ongoing mission in La Entrada, Honduras for about the last ten years, in conjunction with Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church of Liberty Corner, New Jersey.  When I was thirteen, a family friend went on the annual mission trip to La Entrada and upon her return told me about the school they had gone to which, at the time, had very few books.  As an avid reader from an early age, I struggled to imagine a school without books.  The thought stayed with me for the next two years.

When I was a sophomore in high school, I began the prerequisites for my Girl Scout Gold Award Project, and began looking for a project to fulfill the requirements of my project.  I soon realized that I could collect books for the school my friend had told me about - but as I spoke with Ken and Shirley Ballinger, the mission trip organizers, and learned more about La Entrada, I realized that the need extended far beyond the walls of the schools.  The idea of a community library began forming.  That spring, I went to Book Expo America 2005 and began collecting information about Spanish-language publishers and booksellers.  That summer, I went on the mission trip to La Entrada, and at 16, without either of my parents, signed a contract providing for the foundation of a library with Marcio Vega, the mayor of La Entrada.  

Luckily, my parents were receptive to the idea.  They didn't balk at the idea of their teenage daughter taking on such a large task, but only asked me how I would do it.  While I was in La Entrada, I had taken several hours of video footage, and I began by making those videos into a short informational clip.  I then created a presentation about my Gold Award project, and began delivering it to anyone who would listen, from Rotary Clubs to Sunday School classes to Girl Scout troops.  I also created a book sponsorship program, where, for $15, I would put a bookplate bearing the donor's name in one of the library's books.  In addition, I held fundraisers selling items such as signed books, artwork, and local handcrafts.  One fundraiser was a book fair and book signing at Chester County Book and Music Company with illustrator Mike Berenstain.  In the first year, I raised just over $10,000.

It took off, and in June 2006 I shipped just under 1,000 books to La Entrada.  In August, my mother and I followed them there, and hurriedly prepared for the library's opening, recruiting Olga Ayala, a local businesswoman, to manage the library's accounts, carrying the last 60 books to the library myself, and surveying the newly renovated building the mayor had given us to house the library.  On the day of the opening, I got to meet the librarian, Lucia Judith Guerra Villeda, who had previously worked at the Red Cross.  The Public Library of La Entrada opened on August 11, 2006, and its opening was well-covered by local media.

After I completed my Gold Award, the library's fundraising could no longer stay under the 501(c)3 umbrella that the Girl Scouts then provided to such projects.  (Since then, heavy restrictions have been placed on fundraising for Gold Award projects.)  With the help of Larmore Scarlett LLP of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and Bonnie Korengle of Umbreit, Korengle and Associates PC CPA, I incorporated the La Entrada Library Project, adding a three-member board, and registered it as a 501(c)3 charity, making donations to it tax-deductible.  I continue to raise funds for the Library Project, in order to fund the ongoing operations of the library in La Entrada, and, hopefully, use what I've learned in La Entrada to start libraries in other areas that are trying to further develop their social infrastructure.

Since the library opened, Mrs. Villeda has worked tirelessly to improve the library, adding programs to attract schoolchildren to it, and bringing in 500 books from local sources.  Mrs. Ayala was offered a position on the current four-member board of directors, but declined due to poor health.  The original contract with Mayor Vega stated that after three years, the library would come under municipal control.  Currently, we are negotiating the details fo that transition, which is to take place in August of this year, before the new mayor is elected in January 2010.  

If you have any questions that I haven't answered, please email them to me at laentradalibraryproject@gmail.com.  I have committed the last four years of my life to this project because it is very important to me; I want to share my love of books with others, and beyond that, I have come to love the friends I have made in La Entrada, and I want to share their stories with the world.

A World Without Books

Hello, and welcome to the update website for the La Entrada Library Project.  For those of you who are already familiar with the project, I will be posting new information about the library, the foundation, and the people involved as it happens.  For those who are just now learing about the project, here is a short informational video to help you; it will be followed later by more background information about the project.  Thank you for your interest and support!