Bringing books to the bookless - with Borderline Books, free books for those in need. With the Multilingual LIbrary - offering books to borrow in 75 languages to the many different communities and students in Newcastle
Why the community needs usSo many people are in unsure situations where they are unable to borrow books at the library, or even buy old books in charity shops. We aim to stop the gap by working with many local organisations helping people who are homeless, those fleeing domestic abuse, refugees and asylum applicants, young people in difficult situations, people leaving prison, families of prisoners and many others on the breadline.
Our impact on the communityin 2015 we gave away 10,053 free books to local organisations supporting marginalized groups. In 2016 we gave away 13.500. We hope to break this record again in 2017, concentrating in particular on prisons and people just leaving prison. We are working on setting up branches in different cities which could be run by former prisoners to help them with work skills and support them as they acclimatize to life on the outside.