Our books -- to be sorted and distributed
Why is the Institute of the Rockies sponsoring Nargis Library Recovery?
Located in Missoula, Montana where it was established in 1973 as a public policy education membership association, the Institute has focused on issues affecting citizens of the Northwest and Northern Rockies region; so what is the connection with library recovery in Myanmar? The answer becomes clear if one learns about the heritage and purpose of Institute, the Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation, and the desperate need to help libraries recover from Nargis.
In 1973 I had been teaching at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies for seven years. My interests were Asian politics, U.S. relations with Asia, and that amorphous subject, political development. Vietnam had pre-occupied Washington DC, and I despaired for our country’s future after the 1968 assassinations and riots. When my wife, Patricia, suffered a debilitating stroke in 1971, we searched the horizon for a way to cope with our new challenge as parents with young kids, and our need to re-evaluate our lives, which seemed as ruined as the American political system.
We took the twin challenges in hand by creating the Institute of the Rockies, a not-for-profit organization designed to midwife local ideas and help them grow into creative public policy solutions. We designed our association to encourage members to focus on arenas in public affairs they deemed important; if they could develop a consensus among other members to research and learn about the topic, then we would advocate solutions to improve our quality of life. Our sole criteria was that the issue have a political dimension, to relate in some fashion to the state. Not incidentally, by managing our family’s life around the Institute, we empowered ourselves to cope with our own challenges.
Patricia died after a dozen years, and I returned to academic life at Cornell University; however in that period we brought to life a hundred workshops and conferences on issues spanning the range of legislation facing Congress. It proved to be a profoundly educational experience for participants, and advanced community thinking in the 1970-80s about issues now on the front burners for most Americans–water, energy, education, health, government structure, and the role of libraries and museums in public life–to name but a few.
After my departure, Dr. Chuck Jonkel administered the Institute over the past quarter-century; his concern being wildlife and wilderness–with focus on grizzly and polar bear management. He associated the Institute with his own NGO, the Great Bear Foundation, so both 501-c-3 organizations are linked on the internet, but have different purposes with separate IRS letters of approval.
In my years of association with Cornell, research and writings about Burma/Myanmar held my interest. While my job was to curate the University’s fantastic Southeast Asia collection and to travel to each of the region’s ten countries, a fascinating opportunity for anyone grounded in the region’s politics and history, my joy was to return annually after my Fulbright in 1988 to meet with enduring family friends and learn from them how civilians coped with the military regimes. That’s another story, but suffice it to say that the ever-increasing need for objective knowledge about the rest of the world became compelling. Cyclone Nargis only crystallized that issue, this project turned the crisis into an opportunity.
Once motivated to assist in restoration of Burma’s libraries, I cast about for the appropriate fit between the Myanmar Book Aid Foundation, which could administer funds and book distribution within Myanmar, and a U.S. NGO appropriate to this cause. Re-connecting with my Institute of the Rockies was a natural fit, and by mid-September 2008 we had gained approval of the current Institute leadership, and determined that a comparable approval was needed by our Burmese NGO. I met with 15 librarians, writers, and book agents November 9, 2008, in Yangon, who agreed to commit needed time and professional skill to accomplish our goal over the coming years.
The U.S. Department of Treasury, on January 26, 2009 approved the Institute’s application to collect books and funds for transport and reconstruction of libraries, as well as training staff in internet applications, and help in obtain laptops for local libraries. Meanwhile our first container had arrived and 6000 books were distributed to 60 libraries in January. We set aside 2000 books for a book fair in Yangon which just raised over five million kyats. With these funds our librarians are purchasing several thousand Burmese books to replace those destroyed in the storm, along with the English language books already distributed.
In six months we have conceived and organized this project, raised funds to distribute books to 60 libraries, and have over a million books committed to our project–from Thrift Books and Learning Tree charities.
Over 1900 delta libraries are still unrepaired. $20 million is needed to reconstruct them @ $25,000 per structure. We are off to a good start, but our challenge is profound. Burmese citizens have stepped forward to help themselves, knowing that libraries have always been a local community institution, only rarely supported by government. They need and welcome your ideas, support, and funds. In the past weeks donors have stepped forward in Singapore, Australia, Austria, the UK, the US and Myanmar, so our momentum is building. This is a unique opportunity to help construct a modern society @ 20 cents per book, or $25 K per library–and any amount in between—or up to the entire $20 million. We’re flexible!
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