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2011 Book Distribution: Final Summary print storyJune 09, 2011 Omprakash, United States
Introduction This story offers a detailed summary and a critical reflection about our recent effort to send recycled children’s books from the United States to our educational Partners and affiliated projects in India. We executed a similar project in 2008, but hadn’t given serious consideration to a initiating another distribution until an Indian-American named Sunita Casula contacted us in June, 2010 and offered to help spearhead the logistics. This set the ball rolling, and in May 2011, Omprakash facilitated the distribution of roughly 80,000 children’s books to educational projects in India. All of the books were written in English and had been collected in the United States by Worldwide Book Drive, a social venture founded in 2005 with the intent of collecting used books in the United States and redistributing them to communities in need. Worldwide Book Drive donated 80,000 books to Omprakash in January 2011, and Omprakash financed and organized the distribution of these books throughout its network in India. Book recipients included Omprakash Partners as well as a number of other organizations. Our colleague Elisabeth Oakham played a critical role in the distribution, representing Omprakash ‘on the ground’ as she visited Partners, managed tricky logistics with the customs office, and documented the book distribution with high-quality photos and video. She also visited many of the 2008 book recipients to learn more about how these books were being put to use. Be sure to visit Elisabeth’s impressive media gallery to learn more about her work with our Partners. This summary proceeds in three sections. First, it describes the diverse range of schools and organizations that received books. Next, it provides an overview of the costs of this project. Finally—and most importantly—it provides a critical reflection on the rationale for this sort of project. Description of Recipients The books were sent to India in 40 ‘gaylords’ – large wooden crates that hold about 2000 books each. The gigantic container full of books was received by our Partner COVA in the southern city of Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), and COVA kept 25 gaylords to distribute to constituents in and around Hyderabad. Of the remaining 15 gaylords, Omprakash arranged to send 7 to Bangalore (Karnataka), 5 to Chennai (Tamilnadu), and 3 to Udaipur (Rajasthan). The distribution of books within each location is described below. Hyderabad- 25 gaylords (roughly 50,000 books) COVA has been an Omprakash Partner since 2007, and played a critical role in our 2008 Book Distribution. They played an equally critical role in this year’s project, overseeing the distribution of books to constituents in and around Hyderabad. As of June 1, 38 schools had received books from COVA, and this number was set to increase upon the re-opening of schools after the summer holidays. Of the 38 schools that had already received books, three were for girls only, and the rest were coed. Roughly 70% were private schools, though not all private schools in Hyderabad require students to pay tuition. Most recipients were urban schools located in Hyderabad, but 7 of 38 were located in rural areas outside the city. In total, based on data collected from school representatives upon receipt of the books, over 13,000 children will have access to the books distributed by COVA. Chennai- 5 gaylords (roughly 10,000 books) The books that went to Chennai were split between affiliates of three organizations: the Rejuvenate India Movement (RIM), the Association for India’s Development (AID India), and the Integrated Rural Community Development Society (IRCDS). All of these projects are associated with the India Literacy Project, a national network that collaborated with Omprakash during the 2008 Book Distribution and played a big role again this year. The 2011 book recipients associated with RIM were mostly coed rural government schools operating at the primary and middle school level. RIM estimated that roughly12,000 children will have access to the Omprakash books. The recipients associated with AID were coed rural ‘Eureka’ schools and after-school centers. The ‘Eureka’ program is a private initiative charging students roughly 400 rupees ($10) per year. AID estimated that 2,500 children will be able to access these books. The books received by IRCDS were all sent to a coed rural public after-school resource center frequented by roughly 1,000 children of all ages. Bangalore- 7 gaylords (roughly 14,000 books) The books that went to Bangalore were split between affiliates of the India Literacy Project and the Hippocampus Reading Foundation. ILP distributed books to four coed urban and rural community libraries that serve roughly 600 children. HRF sent books to coed urban and rural libraries that serve an estimated 12,000 primary-level students. Udaipur- 3 gaylords (roughly 6,000 books) The books that we sent to Udaipur were received by Seva Mandir, an ILP affiliate that runs a network of non-formal education centers (aka ‘bridge courses’) for rural children. Seva Mandir estimates that 6,000 children will be able to access the books distributed by Omprakash. As shown above, the 80,000 books distributed across four cities are expected to reach over 45,000 children. Of course, these numbers are meaningless if the quality of the books renders them unusable, or if recipient organizations lack the infrastructural or human resources to ensure that books are used appropriately. These are serious concerns that are discussed below. First, however, it is worth briefly recounting the costs of executing this project. In simple monetary terms, the total cost of the project was $9521. Considering that we distributed a total of 80,000 books, this works out to about 12 cents per book, or less than 6 rupees per book. Since all books were donated by the Worldwide Book Drive, the only monetary costs associated with this project were for shipping, customs, and distribution logistics. Needless to say, other ‘costs’ also exist—for example, environmental impact and use of human resources—but we will grapple with those issues below. Here is a breakdown of monetary costs: $736- Pallets and book storage in Dallas Critical Reflection It would be all too easy to celebrate this book distribution as a total success: for relatively low cost, we transferred a large quantity of learning resources to a wide variety of educational projects that serve tens of thousands of children who otherwise have limited access to such resources. By this rationale, our project appears admirable and worthy of duplication in the future. However, this sort of one-dimensional rationale obscures a number of complexities that need to be taken into account. By transparently discussing these complexities below, our goal is neither to defend nor condemn the legitimacy of this project. Instead, we aim to move the conversation beyond the simple question of ‘did this charitable effort have positive outcomes?’ and towards a more nuanced analysis of the costs and benefits that can inform future efforts of this kind. Below is an introductory list—in no particular order, and by no means comprehensive—of potential critiques that could be directed towards this project:
All of these points must be taken seriously, and we invite readers to comment on this post to discuss these points as well as the many other possible critiques not mentioned above. First, however, we will offer our own responses to these justified concerns.
Perhaps. However, if we are talking about environmental externalities, we should also consider the ‘cost’ of these books taking up space in a landfill somewhere. In other words, while the re-use of these books definitely comes at a high carbon cost, not re-using them (and printing new books instead) would come with environmental costs as well.
Indeed, it is essential to recognize that the high status of English in South Asia (and throughout much of the world) was created by an ugly history of cultural and economic imperialism. With that said, we would argue that this status quo is not likely to change anytime soon, and that it would be anachronistic for us to ignore the fact that many members of these societies—particularly the more marginalized members that we aim to support—stand to gain vast new opportunities by learning English.
This is a very real concern, and it touches on larger themes of power and knowledge that have echoed through decades of educational research. We took extra care to ensure that Worldwide Book Drive selected books that were ‘culturally appropriate’ – ie, no Barbie, no overtly religious books, and no books of the ‘Heroes of America’ type– but nonetheless, a significant quantity of this type of book ended up in the shipment. We take full responsibility for the fact that many such books contained subtle or overt cultural messages that are quintessentially American, and we regret whatever negative implications these messages may have within the Indian context. At the same time, we must be careful not to assume that children automatically wish to imitate whatever they see in a book. We would like to think that when an Indian child reads ‘Frosty the Snowman’ or ‘Spot Goes to New York,’ the foreign images therein are a source of curiosity and stimulation, but that they evoke no sense of cultural inferiority. Indeed, as one of our 2008 book recipients succinctly articulated: “Many children like to read books about monsters, but this does not mean that they want to become monsters!” With that said, there are still serious questions of comprehensibility to be addressed. It might be simplistic to critique ‘Spot Goes to New York’ on the assumption that books about New York cause Indian children to devalue their own culture, but it is equally simplistic to therefore assume that such a book will be necessarily educational or even intelligible to such children in the first place. Laden with unique cultural references and colloquialisms, it is likely that many American-made books will simply not make sense to young children in southern India. Thus, while we find reason to resist the critique about ‘cultural imperialism,’ we remain concerned about some of the other implications about exporting American books to foreign contexts.
Yes, this point is undeniable, and a very valid reason for why our book distribution should not be scaled up to the point where every Indian library is full of books from America. However, one can make an argument for the value of capitalizing on the occasional opportunity to share unused books across national borders while simultaneously encouraging the growth of domestic publishing industries.
Another valid critique. Our best response is to emphasize that this project, similar to our book distribution in 2008, is a calculated response to a unique opportunity for connecting needs and assets. We can stand behind the pragmatic value of such a response even while recognizing that it would be problematic to scale it up into a systematic annual event through which all of our Partners received unlimited free resources. The corruption point deserves special mention as well: an unintended side effect of giving things away is that it can reinforce stereotypes of Western donors as rich benefactors for whom money doesn’t really matter—and who therefore are great targets for ‘additional fees’ of every kind.
We are very wary of this point, and would never assume—nor want others to assume—that we can create positive educational change simply by flooding schools with books, money, or any other resources. As mentioned above, these arguments and counter-arguments are not meant to seem overly critical nor overly defensive. Instead, they are meant only to probe at the real complexity of engaging in this kind of effort. We encourage all readers and supporters to consider their own efforts with an equally critical lens, and to share their critiques with us and others in our network. Gratitude This project would not have been possible without the hard work and support of the Worldwide Book Drive, Sunita Casula, COVA, Wasim Ahmed, Elisabeth Oakham, and countless other individuals—not least of all our generous donors. We are grateful to all of these parties and we hope that they can take pride in the results of this project even as we humbly acknowledge its limitations. 
    
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 Enchanted by books
|  The girls kept asking me to read the books to them- while I was filming!
|  Peering into a 'gaylord of books'.
|  Teachers at Seva Mandir proudly show off the new arrivals
|  Loading the trucks destined for COVA's warehouse
|  A brief overview of the final destinations of the books, and some of the issues raised along the way.
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