Libraries With a Heart

Diana Farca created an NGO focused on stocking of libraries in the country

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 23.10.2023, 16:26

She wrote books, (published: “On the Edge, “Soul Hospital”, “The Two “, “Your shadow” and “Life as an Onion”), which were also translated into French, Italian and English. She has a publishing house and together with her friends, Oana Călin and Dana Măilă, she created an NGO focused on stocking of libraries in the country. Diana Farca, founder of Eleprint – publishing house and charitable association, told us the story of this project:

“The need for it came in adolescence, when I went through a very troubled period and then I actually had no money for books. Loving reading very much, I borrowed from my colleagues and from the public library. Later, starting to write books, publishing the first volume in 2015, I started to have releases in Romania and the Republic of Moldova and to feel the need for books. Because there is a lot of talk about the fact that Romanians dont read. The idea is that Romanians do read. But there are two realities, two Romanians: those who buy books and dont find the time to read, and those who maybe cant afford to buy those books, but – especially in rural areas – still read. My colleagues and I came up with the idea when we went to events to collect books from my readers. We didnt know that this idea would become something much larger, because we have collected 7 public libraries so far, with more than 22 thousand volumes collected only through readers, and we thought of expanding it nationally, and doing it into a organized way. That is, to establish an NGO, something we did not initially think about when we started this endeavor.”

We found out that Oana Călin is the one who runs the book platform, and Dana Meilă was Dianas classmate in high school and currently lives in Florence, where there is a very large community of Romanians, whom they also want to reach with books.

Diana Farca added:

“Why did I want to emphasize that there are two Romanians? There is this general idea that Romanians do not read, and there is the reality in the villages, where teenagers can borrow books from the libraries that we registered on the platform, the platform called www.usforbooks.com, and through this platform we give the possibility to any Romanian to register at a library, in any locality in the country. The moment that free registration is made on the platform, we take over the data and do everything that goes on logistically from there. I mean, we take the library, we see how many active members they have, what book they need, what real needs they have, if they need anything else, from shelves, to magazines, to everything, and we take demographic data from them. When we collected the first 28 libraries that registered on the platform, we discovered, as a pleasant surprise, that more than half of the teenagers in the village were active members. What does an active member mean in the view of librarians? It means that they borrowed at least one book per month. Which means that in the villages, where there are far fewer distractions than in the big cities, children still read, or still borrow books, at least.”

Since it is based on fundraising, this NGO is based on transparency, as Diana Farca told us:

“The thing we care a lot about is transparency. On the platform we have a map with all registered libraries, and as we collect books or money, that map is populated with the number of volumes registered, the number of money received, converted into how many books. We were very keen on transparency, because it is our mission as an NGO to use all the money and all the books we receive strictly to redirect them to libraries.”

Studying the platform, we noticed that there is also a project aspiring to make the Guinness Book of Records, after another one that proposed the largest public reading in the world was slowed down by the pandemic, the record being meanwhile registered in India. Diana Farca comes with the details:

“We set a second record for the largest charity platform launch in the world. And now we are waiting for the confirmation from the Book of Records, to have the green light to make the actual launch. We wholeheartedly want to unite civil society, from NGOs, commercial companies, Romanian franchises, foreign franchises, individuals, who may have limited material possibilities, but love reading very much, in this effort to use all public libraries from Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Because the need exists, it is real, and in the villages of Romania and the Republic of Moldova they still read!”

While waiting for the confirmation of the world record, we wish Diana the best of luck, and the readers more and more pleasant readings!