SLIS book drive to benefit library in Thailand

Carol Simpson, professor of library and information sciences, is looking for children's books to start a new library in the town of Chiang Rai, Thailand.

The books will become part of a
community library at the Chiang Rai Montessori School and will be used to teach English to the children and adults of the town. Students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade attend the school.

Chiang Rai is a small town located in the northern part of Thailand in what was known as the Golden Triangle during the Vietnam War era. By learning English, many of the children in the area will have a better opportunity to move into trades more lucrative than farming or working in a factory, Simpson says.

She is looking for children's books in English — literature or textbooks. Recent science, history and non-fiction books are especially needed.

Simpson created a library last summer in the town of Negril in Jamaica. She and half a dozen graduate students traveled to the town to organize the books and create a card catalog for the library. Tourists visiting the area through a local travel agency donated the books. The success of that project prompted the Chiang Rai school's advisory board to contact Simpson via e-mail.

Simpson, along with a group of SLIS faculty and students, will visit Chiang Rai next summer to organize the books and build a system to track them.

Simpson is accepting books until the group leaves in June, but the sooner she receives books, the cheaper it will be to ship them to Thailand.

To donate new and gently used books, contact Simpson via e-mail at csimpson@unt.edu or call 565-3776.

BY RUFUS COLEMAN rcoleman@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

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• Department of Veterans Affairs chooses UNT business college to develop cyber security
• Contract review process hits new high — help needed to keep up with trend
• Interim title holders named to positions permanently
• Student development faculty, staff have new way to demonstrate UNT pride
• Campus Catalog settles into new location
• SLIS book drive to benefit library in Thailand
• Faculty Senate kicks off 2002-03 year
• Dance, theatre arts season tickets for sale through Oct. 16
• Contemporary women's issues writer to speak at UNT Oct. 9

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