What is the Knowledge Without Borders initiative?
KWB is a generous initiative announced by [my father, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah] His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qassimi. His aim is to give each household a library of 50 books ranging from fiction to children’s to cooking to non-fiction books. The project was launched in December 2008 and so far almost 200 households have received the libraries.
What’s the reason behind it?
To inspire people to make reading part of their everyday activities. If books are not accessible to individuals they are less likely to read. This project also emphasises that reading all sorts of books can be fun and interesting, they don’t necessarily need to be educational and it also gives children a head start by getting them interested in reading from a young age. Through ongoing library distributions, we are closer to our goal of providing around 22,000-24,000 families with libraries by the beginning of 2010.
How are the library books chosen?
Each library consists of books suitable for the entire family. Not one library is the same, which adds to the sense of community where we see neighbours swapping and borrowing books once they have read their own. Aside from the organising committee, we have a book-choosing committee made up of people with different specialist interests. Books are chosen based on how good they are, primarily. We want to pick the best books, so books that have won awards are definitely going in the libraries; we also look for books that are new releases. We aim to cover a broad range of categories, so we have fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, teen books, self-help, religion, politics, sociology and cookery. We’ve also included some parenting books and encyclopedias.
What has the response been like?
A lot of buzz has been created since we first distributed books to 27 families in Nahwa village and eight families in the Shees village outside of Sharjah. When we recently distributed libraries to 106 families in Wadi Al Helo, many families were familiar with Knowledge Without Borders. We’ve had very positive feedback from the families who received libraries and have even had members of other villages wanting to know when they will receive their libraries.
Do you have in-school programmes?
Apart from giving books to each person’s home, KWB is planning many events to supplement this project. These events are centred around schools, libraries and community centres. The first event we had was a book reading for primary school children by a celebrity. The celebrity chosen was Mohammed bin Sulayem, the racing car champion. This way we spark children’s interest by bringing in someone they look up to who encourages them to read. We’re offering a wide variety of books on many different topics that encourage children’s inquisitive nature to learn more about the world and become part of an international community.
