It’s often the case that students from rural communities have the desire to learn more about technology, but simply lack the resources. The public schools these students attend operate on shoestring budgets, and unfortunately, technical books often don’t make the cut when purchasing decisions are made. In response to this, the Rural Technology Fund has developed its Book Donation Program. This program was started in 2011 and aims to provide technical resources to students in rural areas by donating technical books to public school libraries in these communities. The ultimate goal of this program is to provide rural students with the resources they need to pursue an interest in computer technology.
Thanks to the donations of several generous individuals and a few publishers, the RTF Book Donation Program has reached an important milestone this week. We have just shipped our 1000th book to a rural school library, and have now sent technical books to over 100 schools in 6 different states.
RTF Director Chris Sanders spoke about this accomplishment, “In most cases, these books were either sitting on shelves and collecting dust, or were publisher surplus and headed to the shredder. The fact that we’ve managed to find new homes for the books so that they can make a difference in rural schools is something I’m proud of.”
The books that were donated went mostly to high schools and middle schools and covered a wide array of topics including computer programming, web development, computer security, computer hardware, and operating systems. Sanders went on to say, “We collected used books on a variety of technical topics and went through all of them to make sure they were still relevant in today’s marketplace. A passion for technology at a young age is all about fueling the spark a student gets the first time they write code, fix a complex issue, or do something creative with technology. We want students who have that spark to have access to these books so they can fuel their spark and grow it into a fire that motivates them to the next level. We want them to turn that fire into more education, and eventually a career. We want students from rural areas to have the same resources as their urban and suburban counterparts.”
If you are a publisher or individual interested in helping the RTF book donation program, consider donating your used or surplus books, or host a book drive at your work place. Shipping books to the RTF is cheaper than you might think with the USPS’s Media Mail rate, and is fully tax deductible. You can learn more about this program at http://ruraltechfund.org/book-donations/.