Villa Serrano Donation

Public Diplomacy Officer Cyndee Crook urges the children of Villa Serrano to read and enjoy their new library.

In September 2007, Public Diplomacy Officer Cyndee Crook traveled to Villa Serrano to donate a collection of books by American authors for the municipal library.  The representatives from the Embassy were greeted by the entire town of Villa Serrano and enjoyed dances and musical performances by local children.  After the ceremony, Embassy representatives passed out notebooks, pens, balloons, and snacks to the children of Villa Serrano.  The Villa Serrano library is also sponsored by Biblioworks, the Book Bank, and Peace Corps.

More about the Book Program

The book collections, written by American authors and translated into Spanish, are distributed by the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia to Municipal Libraries, University Libraries, and other public libraries.
Beginning in 2004, the Book Program developed a new program with the goal of reaching children, youth, and indigenous populations that do not have support for their libraries. 

The children of Villa Serrano pose for a photo after a traditional dance performance.

In this context, a five-year campaign has been developed with the National System of Public School Libraries (“Banco del Libro”), Municipal Governments, the Rural Academic Units of the Catholic University, Teachers Colleges, and libraries serving disadvantaged populations.

The national campaign “Estados Unidos y Bolivia Unidos en la Lectura 2004-2009” intends to reach all the departments of Bolivia, with the support of different institutions. 
The cost of each collection is about $us 1,800 and is supplemented by publications from our Information Resource Center (around 200 publications on history, geography, economy, democracy, and other topics of general interest).
To date the U.S. Embassy has already donated around 16,500 books and by 2009 we hope to have donated 40,000 books