Impact: Fundraising - 'Mister, can you spare a dime?': Tom Relph

Fundraising - 'Mister, can you spare a dime?'

TOM RELPH

You might have noticed that there are a number of fundraising activities up and down the country run by the Career Development Group. These include sponsored walks, canal boat trips, visits, sponsored slims, pub quizes and the odd ceili. This year there is even talk of certain members of the Group entering the Great North Run! So, you might be asking yourself, what is all this fundraising for?

In 1984, the Career Development Group "started to think seriously about putting its members' growing interests of Third World libraries and Librarianship to some practical use"[1]. To follow this up, it was decided to adopt an international library project and fundraise nationally to support it.

The initial project was in Gaba Gaba, when £5,000 was raised to equip and provide bookstock for a new community library. This was followed by a project in The Gambia, Monterrat were £5,000 was raised to replace stock that had been destroyed after Hurrican Hugo, and a literacy project in Sri Lanka. The Career Development Group was able to raise over £20,000 to support these projects.

Currently, the Group is supporting a VSO librarian in Belize and a Book Project in the Maldives (more details of which are given elsewhere in this issue). So far we have raised just over £1,000 towards our total of £5,000. We are one of only a small number of Groups of The Library Association to actively support international projects, and it is only with your help we can continue this on-going commitment to fundraising up and down the country, year after year.

So if you have any bright ideas for fundraising or just want to get involved in an event, let your local Division know and they will be able to say what's happening in your area. This is not only a great way of helping the profession in the developing world but can be great fun too.

References
[1] FREEMAN, M.J. "A library is born". Library Association Record, 89(8), August 1987, pp.383-384.

Tom Relph is Associate International Relations Officer and Hon. Secretary of the Northern Division. E-mail: reference.library@s-tyneside-mbc.gov.uk


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