I’m excited to share the designs for the library we are building! Rio Camanibal is a small village in the Guatemalan highlands close to Chichicastenango Guatemala. There is a public elementary school there with the official name Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta del Cantón Río Camanibal.

Unfortunately, unlike the United States, there is not a lot of public funding for public schools, and the families that have children that attend that school are not financially able to provide materials and improvements.  They do not have a library at their school, and the closest one is not close by — a 4.5 hr walk, I am told!

While the government would not allow the construction of a new building to house a conventional library (nor would we have the ability to fund one or the time to see it through to completion in the week we would be in Guatemala) the school has room in existing spaces for the placement of large bookcases where we could categorize their book collection using reading levels rather than the Dewey decimal system and alphabetical sorting by author last name.

This photo was borrowed from an advertisement they saw but represents the gist of their proposed design, one we mutually agreed would be appropriate for their needs.  The quote they received for each bookcase is Q. 5,766.00 (equates to roughly $750) so our plan is to buy the materials for two of them.  That should be plenty of room to house the 500 books we plan to provide them and still have some room to grow.

Fortunately, one of the parents of a student that attends there is a carpenter, so we will have professional input and guidance for our project without investing additional funds for the appropriate tradesman.  With a few modifications, here is an architectural representation of what we will be building.  In the diagram, note that pulgada is Spanish for “inch”, and you will see that they are good-size bookcases!  Also, there is a planned four-inch elevation which will protect the wood from an earthen or wet floor.