Who can request books?

The books we provide are donated to schools, universities and libraries; these institutions must have a distribution sponsor in countries where we are able to deliver to a port of entry.

We receive many more requests for books than we can meet and we assess each request on a case-by-case basis.

Please note that we cannot provide financial support for the construction or running of schools, universities or libraries. We also do not support individuals in need of books for their own purposes.

Before applying for books, please check that your organization meets the following minimum criteria for book donations—your organization must:

• be in one of our current countries of operation or reaching one of our priority beneficiary groups
• be a not-for-profit or state/publicly-funded organization in one of the following sectors: public and community libraries; schools; training colleges; NGOs; higher education or medical institutions
• have a secure and accessible area for the books and a designated person who will be responsible for them
• be able to provide detailed feedback reports to the shipment sponsor
• be able to demonstrate that you have a genuine need for books in English

How to request books

Individuals or organizations seeking to receive books for a school or library in a developing country may contact the Book Project by telephone at (202) 473-8960 or by email. Once we have approved the request, we will send you a Country Book Request Form asking for details of your book needs.

How we ship books

Depending on your institutional needs as well as your shipment sponsor transport capacities, the Book Project offers two alternative shipment sizes.

Large shipments

1. A 40-foot container contains approximately 30,000 books packed in 576 boxes.
2. A 20-foot container contains approximately 17,000 books packed in 320 boxes.

Only shipping costs from Washington DC to country port are paid by the World Bank.

We pack up to four large shipments each year. With so great a demand, for reasons of equity, we do not normally send more than one large shipment to the same country within a two to four-year period.

Because of the difficulties inherent in sending books to land-locked countries we do not, as a rule, accept requests from these countries. The major difficulty is the cost which the Sponsor would be fully responsible for: customs clearance at the port of entry, storage fees, transportation costs from the port to the land-locked country, customs clearance and other expenses at the land-locked country’s border.

Small shipments

The size of a small shipment is no more than two skids or 48 boxes, and may be as small as four boxes. Costs are paid by the individuals or small organizations who have requested them, identified the schools/institutions, the level and subject matter.

There is no limit on the number of shipments per year.