Book Donation Programs
Sabre’s book donation programs are managed in-country by local NGOs with links to academic, library, charitable or professional institutions. These partners, along with other Sabre collaborators (listed at the back of this report), are responsible for choosing, receiving, warehousing and distributing books in their countries.
| Sabre’s staff works with the partners to define areas of interest in each country. This information is used to solicit donations of new books, journals and CD-ROMs from U.S. and European publishers and academic and professional societies, as well as donations of special collections from universities and individual scholars. Offering lists of available materials are then sent by Sabre to its partners, mainly by electronic mail, and partners respond with their selections. Only titles and quantities specifically requested are shipped. Orders are packed and shipped in 20- or 40-foot ocean freight containers from Sabre’s warehouse facilities at Dunn & Company, Inc., in Clinton, Massachusetts. |  U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer and USIS representative Mary Kruger at a celebration in Kyiv marking the distribution of half a million books at Sabre-Svitlo (Sabre’s partner in Ukraine). |
Over 200 publishers so far have participated in the program, donating books in such fields as the arts and literature, business and economics, English language and education, geography and the environment, history, law and government, library science and reference, medicine and nursing, science and technology, and the social sciences. Most of the books are new, unremaindered college- and professional-level titles, but the proportion of elementary and high-school books has grown in response to requests from the field and geographic expansion. Many publishers’ donations come under a provision of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (sec. 170(e)(3)), which gives favorable tax treatment to donations of current inventory to charitable organizations serving the needy, the ill, and children. The books generally are in English, the preferred second language in the countries served by Sabre, but Spanish-language materials at all educational levels have been added to the inventory to serve the needs of planned new programs.
In addition to new books and journals, Sabre receives donations of special collections designated for institutions seeking to create specialized libraries or to enhance their holdings in specific areas. In 1998, Sabre facilitated special collections donation in many different fields, including: American history, architectural conservation, business, food technology, law, music, physics, political science, psychiatry, reference library materials, sociology, and Ukrainian history. (Donors of special collections received during 1998 are listed on page 18 of this report.)