On the 6th of January 2011, some Information Professionals decided to try and crowd-source enough money

to build a library in India.

It was to be a Twitter campaign, aimed at engaging librarians – there’s so many library closures at the

moment, why not open one?

It was to be a Twitter campaign, aimed at engaging librarians – there’s so many library closures at the

moment, why not open one?

Unbelievably it only costs £1,250 to build, kit out, supply with books and

staff (for TWO YEARS) a library in India.

It was to be a Twitter campaign, aimed at engaging librarians – there’s so many library closures at the

moment, why not open one?

Unbelievably it only costs £1,250 to build, kit out, supply with books and

staff (for TWO YEARS) a library in India.

And you can buy a donkey or bicycle drawn library to travel around Africa for

just £100.

As Andromeda pointed out, that’s not a lot of money to raise if we all work together:

We gave it a tag (#buyalib) and started a blog, then began asking people to contribute.

Here’s what happened next:

Buy India a Library, by the numbers…

Four Information Professionals worked on the project, from the UK, the US, and Denmark

Four Information Professionals worked on the project, from the UK, the US, and Denmark

We exchanged 216 emails about the Project

We wrote 10 blog posts

We wrote 10 blog posts

which attracted 2,355 views

129 people tweeted using the #buyalib hashtag

129 people tweeted using the #buyalib hashtagresulting in over 430 tweets

100 awesome people donated

(the most common donation was a very generous £20)

(the most common donation was a very generous £20)

Between us, in just 2 weeks, we raised a spectacular

Between us, in just 2 weeks, we raised a spectacular

HOW MUCH?!

Yep, we exceed our target, which means we can now build A BIGGER LIBRARY

in India, with more books!

Yep, we exceed our target, which means we can now build A BIGGER LIBRARY

in India, with more books!

So now what happens, is…

The Charities in Africa and India will LITERALLY GO OUT AND BUILD

The Charities in Africa and India will LITERALLY GO OUT AND BUILD

FOUR donkey-drawn libraries in Africa

The Charities in Africa and India will LITERALLY GO OUT AND BUILD

FOUR donkey-drawn libraries in Africa

And an EXTRA BIG library attached to a

school in India!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

Thank you to everyone who got involved, by donating, by tweeting, by

blogging, or by telling their friends.

Thank you to everyone who got involved, by donating, by tweeting, by

blogging, or by telling their friends.

(And thanks to Twitter, too.)

You can find out more about the project, in particular about how and where the money will be spent, and exactly who by, on the Frequently Asked Questions page of the Buy India a Library website.

http://buyindiaalibrary.wordpress.com/frequently-asked-questions/

Slide background from seier+seier – you can view the original here. It’s actually a picture of an IKEA cutting board.

Twitter birds, donkey, library and icons from IconFinder.

Pictures of the Indian and African libraries from GoodGifts.org, the charity who administers the donations and turns them into real libraries.

All other icons and pictures (except the screengrabs of the blog and our twitter profiles) from Stock Xchange.

And finally, the Buy India a Library blog homepage is here.

Thank you.

Thank you. £2420 in two weeks!

Thank you. £2420 in two weeks! Let’s open some libraries.

Thank you.