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CASA’s Public Library

CASA established its first library in 1990 and since 2000 the main library has been located in a working class neighborhood. Locals visit daily, and participate in varied activities such as literacy and computer classes. The children from CASA’s Early Childhood Development Center also use the library every day. The library is an important resource for a diverse group of people, including CASA staff, health professionals, and midwifery students. Prior to their contact with the CASA library, many of these people had never been to a library

Library’s Goal

According to the most recent (2008) UNESCO Institute for Statistics data, 5,406,742 Mexican adults are illiterate and, of that number, 62.5 percent are women. Furthermore, very few people have good reading habits. Each person in Mexico reads 2.9 printed materials a year, however, most reading material consists of required school textbooks, magazines, newspapers and tabloids. The library’s goal is to encourage a love for reading among children, youth and adults through easy access to books, workshops, crafts, storytelling and the projection of films.
The CASA library has become a place of comfort, learning and fun for people who struggle daily to make ends meet.

Achievements to date

• Collection: A collection of over 6,000 books, videos, educational materials and periodicals.
• Work with the Early Childhood Development Center: Every day the preschoolers visit the library with their teachers. Each of the 170 children checks out a minimum of three books a week to share with their family.
• Promoting reading: In 2006, the library implemented a program that promotes reading in urban and rural schools. To date, CASA has served 69 rural schools and 51 urban schools and has given 2,147 workshops to 69,361 young people.
• Rural libraries: In 2010 CASA started an exciting rural library program in 15 schools lending a total of 3,175 books; for the first time in their lives, 450 children were able to check out books. This needed program has been extended to 12 new rural schools in 2011; we anticipate that 2,000 children will be served.
• CASA staff: Love for reading is growing at CASA; staff checked out 610 books in 2010.
• Summer courses: CASA offers a summer course to the children in the neighborhood that includes reading workshops, computer classes, and crafts and drama workshops, among other activities; on average, 30 children participate a year.
• In 2010: A total of 18,840 books were checked out from the main CASA library and 26,538 visits were registered. A total of 6,658 young people attended reading workshops in 15 rural communities through the rural library program.
• 2011: From January to September 2011, the library lent 10,207 books and gave 337 reading workshops.

Goals in 2011/2012

Continue quality programs and meet growing need, particularly in rural settings, by adding 6000 new books to children's collection.

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