BORDERLINE BOOKS
free books
free minds
in 2020 we gave away more than 27,600 books which is not far
from being twice as many as we gave away in 2019.
For 2021 the sky's the limit!
Our offices are still mainly closed apart from a small crew who are ensuring that we can continue to supply books for prisons and local schools. We hope to open up again in mid to late April.
As well as several thousand books given to children this year, we have sent almost 7000 books into prisons while their libraries have been closed or inaccessible to the residents.
Prisons can contact us here or on Twitter to let us know what they need. Our aim is to send shipments of around 100 books to each prison that wants them instead of answering individual requests. If all goes well we aim to return to fulfilling individual requests again in May.
We have recently received a large donation of self-study grammar books that are highly suitable for prisons and for refugee groups. Get in touch if you need some.
books in prison
books in prison
We have been listed in the Hardman Directory since 2017 and usually send books to individuals who write to us. At the moment we are very short staffed so we are sending larger shipments of books to whoever in the prison will distribute them round the wings. We invite people working in Safer Custody, Education or Reducing Reoffending to get in touch.
Literacy
Literacy
The National Literacy Trust states that 9% of children and young people say that they don’t have any books of their own at home. We want to help change that. We are contacting local schools and encouraging them to hold Free Book Fridays so that every child has books of their own. Of course, if the parents read it will help as well, so some schools take books for parents too.
no waste
no waste
We don't believe in destroying books. There's always another way. We try to find new purposes for the books that are beyond repair or long out of date. Some are used for art projects, some for stage sets, who knows, some may have become beds for guinea pigs... think of something!
WHAT WE DO
WHAT WE DO
WE COLLECT BOOKS NO LONGER NEEDED BY PUBLISHERS, LIBRARIES, SHOPS AND
THE GENERAL PUBLIC, AND DONATE THEM TO ORGANIsATIONS WORKING WITH PEOPLE
WHO FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO BUY BOOKS.
this includes organisations supporting people who are homeless, women's refuges, bail hostels, young people's hostels, refugee groups, food banks and people in prison.
We aim to reach people who do not or cannot use public libraries
We also welcome donations of books in any language from authors and literary agencies.
First copies will go to our Multilingual Library in Newcastle and duplicates will go to prisons or to other multilingual libraries around the uk.
making a difference
making a difference
thank you so much for the books and for the [toy] dog for my little brother, he will be so pleased.
pupil Furrowfield School