Access to Learning Award 2004 Recipient Profile China Evergreen Rural Library Service Project uses public schools to provide free access to information resources in remote China. Reaching China’s “Accessing information is crucial not libraries but it also offers critical training Rural Poor only to all levels of education but to the on how to use information technology, advancement and economic prosperity automate library operations, and Of China’s 1.3 billion people, two-thirds of any civil society,” said Zhou Wenjie, promote information literacy. School live in rural areas, where poverty and CERLS technology manager. “If we can librarians are trained in system illiteracy levels are high. Because most utilize our school libraries to provide operations, classification, and online public libraries are located in cities, and Internet access for the general public, cataloging, as well as how to teach many charge for access, China’s rural we can significantly improve the quality in a classroom setting, how to develop residents have little contact with books, of life in rural China.” a library collection, and how to create let alone digital information. If they effective outreach programs. These are able to reach a county library, they Providing More Than librarians then train 15 to 30 students most likely will find outdated collections at each school on how to use technology that have not been added to in 10 years Just a Computer and teach their fellow students. Finally, or more. CERLS schools go out of their way to teachers and librarians learn to The China Evergreen Rural Library reach those least likely to seek out their encourage inquiry-based learning— Service (CERLS), which received the services. For example, one teacher travels using information resources to learn Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s to remote villages with a laptop computer and explore independently—a vast Access to Learning Award in 2004, to teach farmers about new agricultural departure from the rote learning has formed partnerships with public techniques and environmental issues. prevalent in most Chinese schools. Another school is creating a mobile library school libraries to provide free access “I’ve lived here all my life and could to reach herdsmen with information to computers and the Internet to not see any hope for my children,” said in both Tibetan and Chinese. Service students, teachers, and members of the Wang Yinfang, a 35-year-old woman stations have been set up wherever locals public in rural communities. Since its from Danfeng County. “But now I see gather, including cultural activity centers founding in 2001, CERLS has added for myself from the computer that the and fine art shops. 10 public school libraries to its network, more we learn, the more developed we serving more than 1 million people. CERLS not only provides computer can become. My children are definitely hardware and software to school going to lead a better life.” Support From All Levels Having the support of everyone involved, from teachers to principals to county governors, has been key to the program’s success. While CERLS supplied the computer equipment, software, training, and books, schools provided the Internet access, librarians, staff, space, and furniture. Local and provincial governments and ministries also helped out by providing extra computers and equipment. For example, Tongwei First High School in Gansu province was able to convince the local government to donate 90 computers, in addition to the 30 computers provided by CERLS. Corporate partnerships also have been an integral part of the program. One CERLS School RUSSIA Chinese technology company donated 1,000 reading cards that allow each CERLS KAZAKHSTAN Hailar library access to an online database of Heilongjiang more than 1 million digitized books and Qiqihar Karamay MONGOLIA 10 million articles. Another company Changchun Kulja Nei Mongol Jilin donated teleconferencing software so KYRGYZSTAN Urumqi Shenyang schools can hold virtual meetings to Liaoning NORTH Kashgar Hebei Xinjiang KOREA share ideas. AFG. Hohhot Beijing Dalian Yumen Tianjin CHINA SOUTH CERLS plans to use the funds from PAK. Taiyaun Shijiazhuang KOREA Yinchuan Yantai Qingdao Ningxia the Access to Learning Award to install Shanxi Jinan Golmud YELLOW Xining Shandong SEA computers with Internet access at Qinghai Langzhou Zhengzhou Shiqunhe Gansu Xi’an Jiangsu Henan Anhui existing satellite information stations, Shaanxi Nanjing Xizang Shanghai facilitate resource sharing among schools, Hefei Sichuan Hubei Hangzhou Wunan EAST Chengdu add new schools to the network, and Lhasa Chongqing Zhejiang CHINA Nanchang SEA NEPAL provide more training for librarians and Changsha Jiangxi INDIA BHUTAN Hunan community members. Guizhou Fuzhou Guiyang Fujian Xiamen BANGLADESH Kunming TAIWAN Guangdong Guangxi Yunnan Guangzhou Nanning Hong Kong MYANMAR VIETNAM B A Y O F Haikou BENGAL LAOS SOUTH Hainan CHINA SEA PHILIPPINES The China Evergreen Rural Library ServiceTHAILAND works in partnership with public schools in the western provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, and Shaanxi;CAMBODIA northern Jiangsu; and Beijing..