BOOK DONATION
CSD launched its book donation program back in 1990
when it established a partnership with the US Sabre Foundation.
With the assistance of the Open Society Foundation-Sofia, which
financed the transportation and distribution costs, CSD started
receiving several shipments annually of US publication donated by
the Sabre Foundation. Since 1990, CSD, as an official partner to
the Sabre Foundation, has received and distributed around the
country 16 shipments of more than 330,000 books worth over
,000,000.
These activities continue a long tradition in
Bulgaria of donations aimed at contributing to education and public
knowledge. CSD’s book donation was also quite timely as it came at
a moment when budgets for education and culture were shrinking both
nationally and locally. It assisted Bulgarian universities,
libraries, hospitals, and individuals in staying in touch with
international scientific exchanges in a period when a knowledge
economy is taking root globally.
Areas of knowledge covered by the
donations have varied widely – from heart surgery to
telecommunications. In 1999, the latest donations were the first to
include, in addition to books, CD-ROMs, as well as audio and
videotapes.
US
Ambassador Richard Miles (center) at a press conference and book
presentation ceremony at the University Hospital. The event
generated considerable media interest with broadcasts on Bulgarian
National Television and almost all the national press, reflecting
the interest in such a large donation of much needed medical books.
Following the event, Ambassador and Mrs. Miles hosted a
reception.
{The donation in 1999} is one
of the most valuable collections ever donated to one country by
Sabre – over 120,000 medical books (2,000 separate titles) with a
retail value of over ,000,000 for Bulgaria.
On September 29, 1999, Mr. Richard
Miles, Ambassador of the United States to Bulgaria, and Mr. Leonard
Baldiga, member of the Board of Directors of the Sabre Foundation,
opened an exhibition of medical literature donated to the “Tsaritsa
Joana” University Hospital by the Sabre Foundation. The shipment
included more than 120,000 volumes of about 2,200 recently
published titles of the Williams & Wilkins publishing house: study
guides, tests, monographs, medical dictionaries, reference books,
specialized editions in dentistry, pharmacy, human and veterinary
medicine. Books and study materials were given to medical
institutes and health-care organizations around the
country.
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