If you have books that your children have outgrown or don’t need anymore and are wondering what to do with them, the students of IIT-Madras have a solution — donate them to the needy.

The Pledge a Book Project, which started a couple of months ago, is building libraries for the underprivileged.

The students have tied up with different NGOs to help them set up bookshelves and libraries. Their first library was established through Avanti Fellows, an NGO that trains students for IIT-JEE. Around 100 JEE-related books were donated to the organisation and the students also supplied bookshelves. The team is collecting books from anyone who is willing to donate.

“Most people have some books that they do not use anymore. Whether they are IIT-JEE reference books or novels, there are people who need them,” Shubham Jain, a student volunteer said.

Once they collect the books, they sort them and then determine where to set up libraries based on the category. To save costs, the students are also building their own bookshelves at the Center for Innovation workshop.

“Many of the children’s reference books will go to the IDF’s Bal Gurukuls. We are also willing to tie up with any NGO that requires books for adults or children,” Romil Shah, another volunteer said.

Pledge A Book was initially started as part of IIT-Madras’ technical festival Shaastra 2015, but now, the project’s volunteers are planning to take it further.

“In the days to come, we also plan to start a programme that promotes reading among communities. In the future, we hope to establish libraries in different neighbourhoods. We are also looking for corporate support,” he said.

The Pledge a Book project is also supported by UNESCO. For further details contact shubham@shaastra.org.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Kavita Kishore / Chennai – October 09th, 2014