Librii is an exciting new concept in libraries that has been successfully funded as a Kickstarter project raising $52,350, just above their $50,000 goal, with 650 backers. Their plan is to develop a network of low-cost yet revenue-generating, digitally powered libraries deployed along the fibre optic infrastructure in the developing world. It will be run by library and information professionals and provide access to people isolated from resources that could aid their independence.
Librii's intention is to provide individuals and comunities with access to digital and physical tools to 'tools to solve their own educational, informational, and economic challenges'. The purpose of being revenue-generating, they say, is to make them independent from government organisations and the like. It makes sense.
The project was incubated with seed funding from the World Bank Institute and was awarded the Best Innovation Leveraging Technology from the Dell Social Innovation Challenge. It's a project worth watching and provides inspiration to me personally, as we encourage our own library communities to look differently at the futures available to them. #Librii