They're All Booked Up!

Students collect more than 2,300 textbooks for Africa in first-ever book drive, gear up for second drive this month

A book drive organized by Guelph students this winter to benefit needy libraries and schools in Africa proved to be one of the most successful in North America.

More than 2,300 books were donated, packed and shipped to Africa in December and January, says chemistry graduate student Mark Sun, executive director of the drive. That total put Guelph in the top 15 among more than 550 book drives held on college and university campuses in Canada and the United States, he says.

“For our first run, the response we received from the U of G community was overwhelming,” says Sun. “We were, quite literally, up to our ears in textbooks.”

The book drive, which was organized with the help of Better World Books in the United States, asked for used university textbooks unsuitable for buyback by campus bookstores due to changing course requirements. Some of the collected books that weren't needed in Africa were sold online by Better World Books, raising more than $800 for the Guelph chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

A second drive set for April 10 to 24 during the spring buyback period aims to collect even more books than the first drive did, says Sun, who's hoping that students will be eager to donate their books at the end of the school year rather than have to pack them up and lug them home. Drop-off boxes will be available at campus bookstores and some residences. For more information, contact him at Ext. 52252 or msun@uoguelph.ca.

Working with Sun on the drive were Mackenzie Brisbois, Erin Frank, Christine Frenette, Katherine Kistows, Jamie La, Ana Perkovic, Daniella Remy and Jess Stevenson.