The Process In Pictures:  
Pictures of how this all works.

Collecting and shipping books to another country takes lots of people and time.  Starting with a team of thirty-five students and three teachers, it took two months to collect the books, four months to collect the money, and two months to get the M-bags!

Just to give you an idea, here is a list of all the things we had to do:

• Determine criteria for items to be collected
• Design publicity - posters, announcements, PSA's for the radio
• Arrange for storage of collected books
• Find contacts to help with publicity - businesses, school newsletters, etc.
• Gather and distribute collection boxes wherever possible.
• Visit and gather back all donations
• Sort through all donations to make sure they were in appropriate condition and were appropriate to place in a school library
• Divide books into collections - series titles in sequence, determine duplicates, etc.
• Divide all books into eight "piles" - one for each school receiving books
• Make sure no one school received too many of any one title
• Collect strong shipping boxes
• Count each box's contents, label box according to content
• Seal each box securely
• Weigh and record each box
• Print out and attach labels for all boxes - by school receiving them
• Collect custom labels and M-bag tags from post office
• Attach shipping addresses to each M-bag tag and custom label - to match with each box being shipped.
• Arrange with post office to receive the boxes
• Arrange with the district for a truck to take boxes to the post office
• Take all boxes to the post office and make sure each box is processed and record actual weight for each box
• Sign each and every customs label prior to shipment

Many students helped make this project succeed.  Below are pictures of some of them.

African Totems Handmade totems made by 7th graders during their study of Africa, Madison Junior High	Madison Junior High Contributes Madison Students packing books for South Africa.
More from Madison Madison students packing more books.	Do We Have To Send This One? Madison Junior High student focusing on one title heading for South Africa.
Boxes to be Sorted. Pile of boxes of donations for SA.	"Boxcar Children, Little House...." Student Julie Nakis is sorting through hundreds of books - putting them in piles by series, age and reading level.
Waiting to be packed. Books on shelves waiting to be packed.	Good job, Mike! Senior Mike Colella sorting books into piles by interest or grade level.
Working CAN be fun! On their kneess in the stacks, students Kyle Cocarek and Sarah Pierz sort books by grade level.	Hey, Mr. McGrath! Mr. Tom McGrath and students from one of his classes help pack books.
Packing in the aisles. Books being packed by interest level.	More aisle work. More students packing books in the aisles.
The Dream Team. Students in the aisle packing. This group worked the longest!	Weighing in. Student weighs box and marks the poundage for customs.
Teacher Sue Sorts Too. Sue Torsberg also helps with the sorting.	Packing and sealing. Two students seal and attach shipping label to a box for SA.
More Labels Another label and box sealed.	Lots of room! These students continue to fill up boxes.
Are we done yet? Piles of books still waiting to go in the box.	Just a few more. Student finished adding a few more titles to this box.
"I read that one!" Three students finish packing a box for an elementary school.	More packing.
Smiling Sam Sorting. Sam Steslow sorts through classroom sets of books headed for SA too.	Seal it tight! Students seal up another box in preparation for shipping.
Sorted, sealed, and ready for delivery! Packed boxes waiting to be taken to the post office.	Boxes and more boxes. Part of the 147 boxes waiting for shipment.

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Books for South African School Libraries Project Director:  Jane A. Sharka
All pictures on this web site are copyrighted.  (© Jane A. Sharka, 2005.  All rights reserved.) 
If you have questions or seek permission to use any image, please contact Jane Sharka.