Earlier I had posted about Marilyn Deer, a very generous and committed donor who helped establish a library in Jordan Nu, Ghana. The establishment of the library was tough, and then Marilyn realized that the battle had only just begun! Managing and ensuring quality service are even harder. So we have been exploring how to leverage our respective strengths... Marilyn's long-term commitment and incredible energy, and our presence on the ground (though a little far away!). Our library coordinator, Lucas Amikiya, visited Jordan Nu with Marilyn in June. (Along for the ride was Amanda Young, a Watson scholar traveling the world looking at community libraries, but that is another posting.) We're now talking about setting up a more regular system of visiting the library and doing inspection, training and encouragement for a week. It is expensive, but has to be done, we all agree. What is the proper frequency, is the problem. Once a month would be ideal, but costs far to much! These are the issues that a network of "friends of African village libraries" confronts every day. So I was struggling with the tradeoffs, and then got to Marilyn's email where she had sent me photos of the library... here they are- fantastic! A real jewel, and the little we spend on polishing this gem will be well worth it! Bravo Jordan Nu!!!!!
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