One of our projects is to help develop the first library for the town of Bungoma. About 3000 books have already been sent to Bungoma. More are needed. Here are some guidelines from `Books for Africa' (www.booksforafrica.org) on what kind of materials are worth sending there (considering the significant shipping costs). RP

A. Physical Condition Books should be new or barely used, complete, clean and durable. In other words, do not donate a book if it is:

• shabby
• soiled or torn in any way
• defaced by highlighting or other writing
• poorly bound
• marred by missing pages or serious misprints

B. Age Depending on the type of book, age can be an important factor in the evaluation process:

1. Atlases should not be more than five years old since earlier editions may not reflect the recent name changes of some countries.
2. Encyclopedias should be the most current edition. They are usually only reprinted every eight years. Older editions can be seriously out of date.
3. Educational textbooks, especially in the fields of medicine, science, social science and the humanities should be current or no older than eight years.

C. Content If a book has passed the previous two criteria, the content is examined. This is the most difficult area to screen since it requires sensitivity to the values of potential recipients. In evaluating the content, one should pay attention to the following:

D. Magazines. BFA accepts ONLY National Geographic magazines published 1980 and after.

Reprinted from the Books For Africa web page (www.booksforafrica.org).