Thinking Inside the Ideas Box

Libraries Without Borders Unveils a Library in a Box for Refugees

by: Jennifer Maloney

The Ideas Box, seen above, is a shippable library - with books, tablets and more - designed by Philippe Starck for Libraries without Borders. Photo: Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal

Tuesday night at the New York Public Library, an organization called Libraries Without Borders will unveil its latest project: a library in a box.

More accurately, it's a library in multiple boxes—lightweight, durable and waterproof—designed to be packed onto shipping pallets and sent to refugee camps.

The idea is that food, water and shelter aren't enough, said Patrick Weil, the group's founder and chief executive, and a visiting professor at Yale Law School. People who have lost everything, he said, need books, films, games and Internet access to feed their minds, connect with loved ones, pursue education and rebuild their lives.

The so-called Ideas Box, designed by Philippe Starck, contains 15 tablet computers and four laptops with satellite Internet connections; 50 e-readers and 5,000 e-books; 250 printed books; a movie projector, screen and 100 films; chairs, tables and board games.

"We can rebuild ourselves by reading," said Mr. Starck, who noted that he had educated himself by studying books rather than attending school. He designed the boxes in bright colors and said their arrival should feel like Christmas. "Inside, it's not toys, it's doors—doors to an open mind, thousands of different universes."

In February, the first two Ideas Boxes arrived in refugee camps in Burundi, in partnership with the United Nations refugee agency, and plans are under way for boxes to serve Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. There are 46,000 refugees in Burundi, most of them Congolese, according to the agency.

In a report on Thursday, the Libraries Without Borders project director in Burundi said that at one of the boxes, some 30 children that day had watched an animated movie, with more peeking in through the windows. Meanwhile, around 10 adolescents used the tablets, 15 high-school students studied from geography and grammar books and older folks read books on the history of the Congo.

"It's a real mental breath of fresh air," the director wrote.

The project launched with a $400,000 seed grant from the Alexander Soros Foundation. "Giving people access to education and culture," Mr. Soros said, "it completely inspired me."

Now Paris-based Libraries Without Borders is looking for corporate sponsors to contribute tablets, laptops and electrical generators. One box costs $60,000 to assemble. The group hires and trains local refugees to work with the project, Mr. Weil said.

Write to Jennifer Maloney at jennifer.maloney@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
The surname of Philippe Starck was misspelled as Stark in a photo caption in an earlier version of this article.

from: Wall Street Journal