Materials that would be of the most use are French language books at a high school reading level. Specifically textbooks, or materials concerning the Caribbean are of particular interest. Please, used books are great, but only high quality, current materials! Please contact mcgill@lwb-online.org.

The group will be discussing their recent service learning trip to Quetzaltenango Guatemala, where they volunteered at the Miguel Angel Asturias Academy. Librarians Without Borders has been active at McGill for several years, and has been working to create and support a library at the Asturias Academy. For this most recent trip to Guatemala, the McGill chapter partnered with other student chapters from across Canada to develop library programming, build the school library collection and work to integrate library resources into the curriculum.

Please come to learn more about Librarians Without Borders and the Miguel Angel Asturias Academy. Refreshments will be served, and there will be time for questions and discussion after the event. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please RSVP to Lindsey Sikora at lindsey.sikora@mcgill.ca by September 20th, 2011.

Reading for Change: Build a love of reading in Guatemalan children

Position Description:
As librarian, you will be responsible for planning library activities for students ages 4-18. Past activities have included read-aloud time and independent reading, as well as familiarization with the library and research methods. The librarian is responsible for maintaining the library, keeping records of books borrowed and returned, building a “wish list” for further expansion, leading library class for students, and assisting teachers with how they might better utilized the library in their classes. Outside of the library, the librarian attends one weekly meeting, and participates in school field trips and activities (such as recess). Once a month, you will submit a “blog post” of your experience at the school. This position is very rewarding, as you will work directly with students, but can also be challenging. We are a private nonprofit school serving very low income families. As such, our resources and staffing are limited. This position requires you to be friendly, outgoing, patient, a quick learner and culturally flexible.

[Como bibliotecario, estarás encargado de planear actividades en la biblioteca para estudiantes de edades 4-18. Actividades en el pasado han incluido lectura de alto voz, lectura independiente, y familiarización de la biblioteca y como hacer investigaciones. La bibliotecario esta responsable para mantener la biblioteca y manejar los libros prestados, desarrollar un listado de “deseos” para aumentar la colección de libros, y ensenar la clase en la biblioteca y ayudar a los maestros en cómo pueden utilizar la biblioteca. Afuera de la biblioteca, el bibliotecario asiste a una reunión cada semana y participar en actividades escolares y viajes escolares. Una vez al mes, entregas un “blog post” de tus experiencias. Esta posición da mucha satisfacción, así que estás trabajando directamente con estudiantes, pero también puede ser difícil. Somos un colegio no-lucrativo con estudiantes y familias de pocos recursos. Así que también nuestros recursos están limitados. Debes ser amable, paciente, aprendes rápido y flexible culturalmente. Debes hablar español muy bien, preferible tener experiencia en bibliotecas y alfabetización, experiencias en América Latina y en trabajo de desarrollo social.]

Desirable skills: Spanish language fluency (reading, written and oral), library experience, experience with low-literacy youth, experience in Latin American countries, experience in limited resourced and staffed environments.

Required: Passport, independent accommodations, laptop

Position duration: January 1, 2012-October 31, 2012, 40 hours/week
13 Calle 24-43 Zona 3, Quetzaltenango, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, CA

To Apply:
Please send cover letter, resume and contacts for 3-5 references to Jorge Chojolan at info@asturiasacademy.org

For more information contact:
Jorge Chojolan
info@asturiasacademy.org
(502) 5757-6380

More about the Asturias Academy:

Miguel Angel Asturias Academy is a private, non-profit Pre K-12 school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, founded in 1994 to eliminate education disparities through subsidized tuition, and create informed, critically-thinking, socially conscious citizens through its curriculum.

By creating a library to serve students, their families and the surrounding community, the Asturias Academy hopes to foster a love of reading and ultimately shift societal attitudes toward literacy and education. Since 2009, the Asturias Academy has partnered with Librarians Without Borders in the development of the library. Librarians Without Borders members participated in a service learning trip in April 2010, working in the library and bringing with them books and plans. In April 2011, Librarians Without Borders representatives visited the Academy a second time to continue the project by expanding the library’s collection, programming, and services to eventually serve the wider community of Xela. To read more visit: http://www.asturiasacademy.org/

Thank you to the many generous, kind people who helped out by baking, supervising the table, and assisting with set-up and take-down. Our many incredible LWB McGill members and other volunteers baked a delectable spread of cookies, candies, brownies, cupcakes, fudge, cakes, breads, savoury cheese dishes and other special treats!

For a $5 donation, people were able to sponsor a book and get their name (or the name of a friend or loved one) on a bookplate that will be placed inside a book destined for the Asturias Academy library. It’s still possible to sponsor a book — contact us for details!

All told, we raised over $400 for our project at the Asturias Academy library! Combined with the $300 we raised at the Manitoba Social in September, which we co-organized with our cool colleagues over at SLA McGill, our hard work is truly paying off! This is amazing, and it will help us in our mission to help the school library we developed last year evolve into a public library serving the entire community. This April, when we travel to Quetzaltenango, we will develop programming, services, and collections that will serve the wider Xela community as well as the Academy’s students.

Here are a couple of (admittedly poor quality!) photos from the bake sale yesterday, with the lovely Amanda Oliver (wo)manning the table:

Special thanks to Emily McHugh, Amanda Oliver, Becky Burbank, Caitlin Bakker, Sarah Gauntlett, Kat Daniels, Alanna MacNevin, Nouf Khashman, Elizabeth Schneider, Dana Ingalls, Shamron Spence, Sabrina Hepworth, Sanghun Cho, Laurel Stokes, and Julia Kleinberg for all your hard work! My sincere apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone — I blame counting all that change!!

In other news, things are heating up for LWB McGill right now as we plan our ticket purchases to Guatemala in April! Our sub-committees have also been incredibly active. For example, we have a group that is contacting local schools to promote partnerships and student sponsorships between Montreal schools and the Asturias Academy. Another group is working on a project with local First Nations groups, including a visit to the Kahnawake cultural center/school. Another sub-committee is working on identifying grant-writing opportunities for the library at the Asturias Academy.

If you’re interested in any of these projects, even if you’re not in the Montreal area, contact us! We’d love to hear from you.

Hope everyone’s surviving December’s unpredictable weather and the onslaught of holiday consumerism!

All the best,

Robyn

LWB McGill President

I have been in touch with Rosemary Cochrane of CODE Canada, and they are still looking for student volunteers to help our with their annual fundraiser! The date has been set for Wednesday, December 8. The venue will be St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish
Hall, 4455 West Broadway, NDG. Guest are invited from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Contact us if you’d like to be involved!

Robyn

LWB McGill President

Moving in the Books!

As you may or may not know, we have built a third story on to the Academy, and in January, all the rooms will be occupied by the students. This third story includes a couple rooms for our technical education program, a large room for traditional tech programs (think electricity, carpentry… those kind of programs) and a brand new beautiful library!

 

Have just received Asturias Academy’s 2010 Annual Report, which contains the following section on the completion of the library space:

Completion of the Third Floor

We have been under construction for what seems like forever. It was 19months. During that time, we built a completely new, third story to the Academy.What that floor means for our students is a brand new library, the first of its kindin the area, and a technical education floor. We were also able to move thevolunteer office up to the third floor, and thus separate the clinic and volunteeroffice. Each now have their own offices and workers there are thrilled with theirnew space!

There were many challenges to the third floor. Not only was funding a hugechallenge, but even when we thought we had it all done, there were still somekinks to work out. For example, we found out that the roof didn’t drain very well.Fortunately, we discovered this before we put all our books into the library! Onceit was waterproofed, we were able to move all the books in. We even had a day oflibrary education for the teachers, during their two week yearly training.

Even though we have the place up and running, there are still some thingswe could use. We have the space for HUNDREDS more books, we’re looking forchairs and tables to make the library a really workable spaces, and we’d love tohave 3 computers for the students to use in the library.The completion of the third floor signals the completion of the Miguel AngelAsturias Academy. As such, we definitely felt a sense of accomplishment as welooked at the complete, furnished rooms, and cannot wait to see students in them.

Read the report in it’s entirety here: 2010 report