OSC’s Room to Read is a service that promotes the love of reading by helping maintain and improve the libraries of schools in the local communities. We have almost finished our first semester, and we have made some progress since we started. Even though I was not here last year, our service completed the primary library of the Vidya Vardeyna School which is relatively close to OSC. This year, we visited the primary library to check if it’s maintained well, and the first time I saw it, it was hard to believe that we did it. The place looked wonderful! The floor was carpeted, there was a bookshelf full of children’s books, and even a reading corner with bean bags! The place reflected the countless number of hours that were put in by the group members to make sure that the children felt safe and comfortable in their library.

Picture of the library

 

For this year, our service aims to complete the secondary library at the Vidya Wardeyna School. This semester, we finished the layout and also had a book drive in order to collect books for the book sale. One of the hardest things to do is collecting funds for furniture and other accessories as they can be quite expensive. Because of this, we needed something that would not only be easy to organize but also effective, and so we decided to do a book drive. A book drive is an event where people donate their used or new books to the people in need. To convey our message without making it too long and boring, we decided to make posters and put them around the school. Here are some of them:

 

Pictures(5-7)

 

Making effective posters in such a short period of time is not an easy task, and considering the age group which is mostly comprised of 6th-8th graders, I think we did well. The book drive was held from November 12- 16 and believe it or not, we managed to collect hundreds of books! We plan on selling these books at the annual Fun and Food Fair in March to raise funds for the accessories required in the secondary library at the Vidya Wardeyna School. After the book drive was over, we packed the books in cartons to prepare for the book sale.

 

Pictures(Packing the books)

 

 

Even though I think we could have worked more on the layout for the library this semester, I think we did well this semester. Along the way, we improved our communicative and collaborative skills and also learned to reflect on what we did.