December 3, 2008

 

Contacts:

Kayla Miller, Assoc. Students of MSU Billings, 657-2365
Dan Carter, University Relations, 657-2269

 

Book drive will run during book buy-back Dec. 8-11 

 

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — Sometime next week, a good number of textbooks at Montana State University Billings will be without a home. Students who once hefted them around in loaded backpacks will be leaving them behind as they advance to new classes or updated texts.

 

But, with the help of some student leaders, texts that are no longer needed will still be wanted.  Their next lives could help promote literacy in Nepal, Laos or South Africa.

 

The Associated Students of Montana State University Billings (ASMSUB) is partnering with Better World Books to collect books that Jackets and Company, the university’s bookstore, can’t buy back. The books help raise money for Room to Read, an international non-profit that helps supply educational materials to developing countries that have difficulty educating their young people.

 

Kayla MillerKayla Miller, a junior from Billings Skyview and the ASMSUB student resolution officer, said the project serves a dual purpose. It is a responsible way to get rid of books and will help the education of students in less fortunate parts of the world.  Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to provide quality educational opportunities by establishing libraries, creating local language children's literature, constructing schools, providing education to girls and establishing computer labs. Since its inception in 2000, the organization has established 5,600 libraries in the developing world.

 

“Helping other people get an education is a good cause and this is good way to use books so they don’t end up in the trash,” said Miller, who is working on a dual major in human services and business administration with a marketing emphasis.

 

Collection bins will be set up at the semester end book buy-back area in the Student Union Building and at Jackets and Company West at the College of Technology from Dec. 8-11.  Students, faculty, staff or the public can donate unwanted college-level books published within the past 10 years (highlighting/writing in books will be accepted). Any books used in a college class can be contributed to the book drive.

 

The donated books will be shipped to Better World Books for review and then forwarded to the Room to Read program. As an added bonus, ASMSUB will make 50 cents per book that will be used for a local community project, Miller said.

 

Textbooks that cannot be donated or sold will be recycled.

 

For more information about the book drive, contact Miller at 657-2365. More information about Room to Read can be found at www.roomtoread.org.