Before Gutenberg books were handwritten. Every copy was unique. In the centuries following the Gutenberg epoch books continued to be objects of great value. Considerable time passed before the establishment of a publishing industry that used mass production to reduce books to the level of an everyday consumer product.

History gives us an insight into the
value of books. During the 17th century
Sweden made no secret of its
ambition to establish itself as a major
power intent on conquering desirable
areas of the Continent. The Swedish
Army fought throughout Germany,
Poland, Bohemia (in today’s Czech
Republic) and Russia. If these wars had
been successful Sweden would be a
major power today. This didn’t happen
and Sweden reverted to its status as
Northern European cul-de-sac. The
wars were, however, not completely in
vain.When the remnants of the Swedish
Army returned home their baggage
contained war booty including,
among other things, books. These had
been plundered from churches and
monasteries in Poland, Bohemia and
Germany. The books were divided
among the larger academic libraries
and provincial college libraries. Among
the most spectacular was the so-called
Devil’s Bible; a medieval manuscript
plundered in Prague and presented to
the Royal Library of Sweden where it
can be seen today in a specially designed
showcase.

With the art of book printing largescale
production became achievable,
but it took time for the possibilities to
be realised. European book printers
produced small, often expensive
editions and books and reading were
confined to a small, wealthy and literate
group. Literacy rates were low and
poverty was widespread.

Today illiteracy is more or less eliminated
in the Western World, and this has
benefited the growth of the book industry.
Literacy is, of course, a necessary –
but by no means the only – condition
for an indigenous publishing industry.
In the West books are no longer a
scarce commodity. Space problems are
something libraries continually struggle
with. In many countries books can
be bought almost everywhere: at airports,
railway stations or in supermarkets
together with the day’s shopping.
In other countries the book-trade is
more regulated with, for example,
fixed-price systems and special merchandising
outlets. In the non-Western
world there’s a third variation, viz.
countries that lack both a publishing
industry and distribution outlets, and
where literacy is still low, or more or
less non-existent.

Our conception of the value of books
has, however, not developed at the
same pace as the mass production
methods which have reduced the book
to a mere consumer product – with
publishers continually in pursuit of
new bestsellers: the new Da Vinci Code
or the new Harry Potter. Generally
speaking, books, compared with other
consumer items, are considered to have
an intrinsic value. Many of us feel a
reluctance to throw a book away.

Perhaps it’s this attitude that has led to
the inception of numerous book donation
programmes where used books are
transferred from North to South to
countries with barely developed publishing
industries and distribution
channels; where books are scarce and
library shelves empty.

It’s quite possible to share the opinion
that books are different from other
consumer products. Books are the
unique result of an author’s intellectual
labour, even if they, like other industrial
products, are served by mass
production methods. But this in no
way excuses the kind of behaviour that
subjects colleagues in poorer countries
to misguided goodwill by sending
superfluous, often inadequate, literature
to their libraries.

There are no all-encompassing statistics
over the total amount of books
that are transported in North-South
transfers. There are too many actors
involved. According to some estimates
the numbers can amount to several
million volumes annually. An indication
of the amounts in question can be
seen in the annual reports of established
donor organisations. For
example, CODE’s (Canadian Organization
for Development through Education)
Annual Report for 2003/2004
states that 1,1 million books were
supplied to more than two thousand
libraries. CODE has been promoting
education and literacy in the developing
world for more than 40 years and
has an ambitious, well-developed
donation programme. A press release
from Book Aid International in November
2006 has the title ‘Book Aid
International celebrates 25 million
books for readers in the developing
world’. Book Aid International –
another of the professional organisations
in the donation sector has, since
its inception in 1954, donated 25
million books. Bear in mind that this
organisation started on a small scale
and works from the principle that the
receiver dictates the selection. Their
priority is quality, not quantity.

We know little about the contents of
the shipments. Horror stories abound,
as do success stories. A comprehensive
analysis is lacking. For example, what
proportion of a shipment’s contents is
useful in the target country? Did they
receive the books they wanted and had
a use for? Or was the donation counterproductive
– weakening an already
vulnerable publishing activity? Did the
donation cause unnecessary extra work
for the recipient library? Would the
library have felt pressed to accept a
donation they’d rather not have?

Despite the extensive scope of book
donation programmes they hardly
feature in library discussions; and the
subject is rarely present on the programmes
of international library conferences.
Considering this, it’s hardly
surprising that the report published by
UNESCO in 2005, Book Donations for
Development didn’t receive more attention.
The report, written by Mauro
Rosi, is based partly on documentation
from the 1992 conference in Baltimore,
‘Dialogue of Partners International
Workshop on Donated Books’. The
conference was arranged by UNESCO,
CODE and the International Book
Bank (IBB). The report embraces questions
of principle as well as practical
issues. In the first section Rosi analyses
the purpose of book donations. He
writes:

Unfortunately the ‘container policy’ of
sending large numbers of books, which
are often unusable by the beneficiaries,
is still very common. The donation of
books is all too often no more than a
grand gesture without any real impact,
because it fails to contribute to the lasting
promotion of books and reading in
the target countries. It is therefore a
matter of considerable urgency to set
up training and information programmes
for all those who, directly or indirectly,
play a role in the donation of
books.

Rosi underlines the importance of
embodying the entire literary process,
‘the book-chain’ – author, publisher,
printer, distributor, reader – and suggests
that many book donation projects
fail because the focus is only on one
isolated part of the process. And he
exemplifies: “... it is pointless to produce
books if there are no distribution
networks capable of delivering them to
readers. It is ineffective to train new
readers if they do not have reading
material to exercise their new skills, or
to encourage authors if what they write
is not published or remunerated. It is
also unhelpful to improve libraries if
they cannot count on a regular flow of
publications to build their collections.
Further, the book donation programme
should also include methods for
aiding indigenous publishers in the
areas of development and learning.

The second half of the report includes
practical advice about how book donation
projects should be organised.
There is a strong recommendation that
every donation programme should
begin with two considerations: an
assessment of the beneficiaries’ needs
and an analysis of the best way of
balancing the demand and the supply
that can be offered.

But, Rosi continues: “In practice, this
planning does not always take place as
we recommend. The book market in
rich countries produces a great many
surplus publications that are expensive
to destroy. Some publishers therefore
give in to the temptation to use donations
as a means of getting rid of their
unsold books.”

Book Donations for Development
deserves a larger audience. It is invaluable
as a starting point for discussion
and as a rallying cry. Hopefully it can
be instrumental in drawing attention
to the whole question of book donations.
Perhaps the report could inspire
IFLA to take a more active role and
even consider developing guidelines for
book donations. Above all I hope that
the report can serve as an aid to colleagues
in poorly equipped libraries to
dare to say no to donations which
would probably do more harm than
good.

Barbro Thomas

Translated by Greg Church