The Global Literacy Club, is hosting a book drive this week until Friday in order to provide young students in Africa with a chance at literacy.

“The main goal of the [GLC] is to spread literature not only to the rest of United States but to the rest of the world as well,” sophomore and book drive organizer Sarah Martignetti said.

The book drive for Africa is the GLC’s first effort to raise books, so the club members have appointed very specific goals to the project. One problem for the club has been to establish a solid source of income to fund the book drive. Club members are hoping that the shipping costs for their first collection will be largely covered by donations from students, teachers and parents.

“This year, we’re hoping to collect 1000 children’s books and raise $450 to cover all of the shipping fees,” Martignetti said.

The books will be sent to the newly constructed Manyana Primary School in Botswana, Africa. The GLC will send the books to Africa with the help of the African Library Project, an organization dedicated to promoting literacy in Africa. The Manyana Primary School has students ranging from kindergarten to the fourth grade, so the book eligibility requirements are strict.

“We want primarily childrens books,” Martignetti said. “Also, we don’t want anything that discusses United States history or holidays.”

Future plans for the club will most likely include more book drives. Instead of keeping their focus solely on Africa however, the GLC leaders are hoping to extend the reach of their clubs influence to other parts of the world. Other possible areas of consideration include Asia and the south-eastern United States.

Collecting bins for the Africa book drive are located in the Paly Main Library, as well as on the quad all this week until Friday.