BOOK DONATION

Total Number of Books Donated in 1991 -1996

Over 154,000 books and textbooks

Market Value of Books Donated in 1991 - 1996, more than million

Number of Recipients in 1991-1996, over 350 institutions and 6800 individuals

• universities and high schools
• secondary and professional schools
• research institutions
• public libraries
• hospitals and health centers
• public organizations
• NGO's (association, foundations, unions, etc.)
• students
• medical doctors
• researchers and university professors
• engineers and technicians
• economists
• others

Since 1989, western literature and expertise have been in great demand in Bulgaria. At the same time, schools, libraries and individual students cannot afford to buy books published abroad. Over the past five years, the CSD's Book Donation initiative has become very popular in Bulgaria. Thousands of recipients eagerly await the distribution of each shipment of books.

CSD started its book donation act ivities as an official partner to the US Sabre Foundation in November 1990. The Sabre Foundation collects university level textbooks and other specialized books published in the United States within the previous three or four years, and ships them to Bulgaria for free distribution. For its part, CSD is responsible for selecting the most useful and relevant titles for Bulgaria. The books are then processed and distributed to universities, research institutes, secondary schools, public libraries, hospitals and health centers, and to thousands of individual recipients. The Open Society Fund, Sofia contributes to the cost of book processing and distribution.

The distribution of the tenth shipment of books donated by the Sabre Foundation continued over the first months of 1996. This shipment consisted of 9,000 volumes of mostly medical books worth 0,000. An official exposition of donated medical books was held at the Central Medical Library in Sofia in November. Similar events were staged at medical universities and larger hospitals in Sofia and other regional centers across the country.

The next shipment arrived in June. It included 20,000 volumes of over 500 titles in economics, political science, literature, environmental studies, philosophy, technical science, law, history, computer and applied science. Some of the major recipients included the Central Library of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Library of the National Information and Documentation Center, the City Library in Plovdiv and technical universities.

In July CSD received the twelfth shipment of medical books by the Lippincott publishing house of US The publishers provided a list of 250 titles out of which CSD consultants selected 25. The first official exposition of Lippincott medical books was held at the Queen Ioanna University Hospital in July. Followed expositions at the Central Library of the Medical Academy and the library of the "Lozenetz" clinic in Sofia. A large number of books were donated to medical doctors and students. The distribution process will continue into 1997.