After numerous trips to migrant villages, I found a perfect library location in the main streets of Matouzhuang, a village east of the roundabout near ISB. During the last visit, we realized Matouzhuang had plenty of underprivileged kids interested in using our library. The room of the new library is long and narrow, so the core team decided to place tables outside and bookshelves inside in order for the students to have more room to study.
The rent for this new room is also cheaper than the previous one in Baixinzhuang, which means we would have more money to improve the library’s facilities. Although it provides us with electricity, water and a cool environment, this new room had some minor flaws, including a leaking ceiling and broken pavement. We negotiated with the landlord to fix these problems before we officially moved in.
After the location was set, the Core Team organized the books again into two categories: teens and younger readers. Under the teens section, there are a couple of subcategories including novels, self-learning exercises and educational magazines. For the younger readers, there are also a couple of subcategories including picture books, chapter books and English books.
Recently the core team cleaned up the new room and moved all of the tables, shelves and books in. We even put up UNIT-E posters and decorated the room with old drawings from the previous library. After getting the place in order we publicized our service through word-of-mouth and escorted children to the library.
The UNIT-E Service Library is officially back in action!
Nicole Ng is UNIT-e’s Head of Service. She can be contacted at nicoleng@unit-emagazine.org
About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.
