Pilot Study on Library Project and Understanding Rural Education in the Larger Context.

Program Site and Duration of Stay:

• Hunan Province, Chaling County, Lingfang Township, May 31 - June 15
• Hunan Province, Xiangxiang County, Longdong Township (湖南省湘乡市龙洞乡), June 16 - June17
• Hunan Province, Longhui County (湖南省隆回县), June 18 - June 19
• Hunan Province, Yueyang City (湖南省岳阳市), June 20

1. Library Project feasibility research at seven schools (six elementary school and one middle school)
• Visited seven schools and analyzed the possibility of opening school library in each.
2. Pilot Library Project at Lingfang Central Elementary School (舲舫乡中心小学)
• Opened a school library that was previously closed.
• Developed a student-run management structure for the library that is adopted by the school (in order to promote leadership and responsibility in the students by minimizing teachers’ involvement).
• Organized a prized teacher essay contest (recognized by the County Education Bureau) to motivate teachers’ enthusiasm of utilizing the library for teaching.
• Motivated the opening of a reading room.
3. Book Donating at Lingfang Elementary School
• Total of 284 books donated (carefully picked book brought from Beijing).
• Initiated further book donation from one of the volunteer’s network in Beijing.
4. Book Donating at other six schools
• Book prize donated to encourage selected students.
5. Teaching and Training at Lingfang Elementary School
6. Each volunteer taught a class.
7. Conducted multimedia-training sessions for teachers.
8. Donated a digital library of over 50 educational videos, several digital encyclopedia, educational software, and e-books.

Library Profile [doc]

1. Understanding the larger context of elementary school education
• Visited 4 middle schools, 2 elementary schools, and 1 university.
• Conducted interviews with school officials and teachers (valuable information on local school official corruption, art and folk history were collected)
• Analyzed the flow of student population across geographical areas (counties) and grade levels (from elementary school to university)
• Visited the home of Weiyuan, important Qing Dynasty intellectual that remains an important site for middle school patriotic education

• Harold, Chen (Duke University)
• HongSheng, Jiang (Duke University)
• Mu, Heng (University of Pennsylvania)
• Jiajia, Wang (University of Pennsylvania)
• Ziqiang, Xiao (Beijing-based Scholar)
• Hongping, Jiang (local volunteer)
• Lijun, Tong (local volunteer)
• Zhao, Zheng (local volunteer)