More than 250 million children around the world won’t learn to read despite attending school.

UNESCO 2019

Without access to culturally relevant, age appropriate books in a language that they understand, these children face a lifetime of illiteracy and its consequences, including discrimination, inequality, poor health and low opportunity. These children are often trapped in a multi-generational cycle of poverty without the ability to take action. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

If we could help every child currently enrolled at school in a low-literacy country to read, we could lift an estimated 171 million people out of poverty. (Unesco, 2014). In turn, global poverty would reduce by 12%, and individual earning capacity would increase by 10%. And that’s just the beginning.

What we’re doing about it

  • We believe that every child has the right to read.

We’re on a mission to make knowledge accessible to all, equally.

We’ve developed and launched a globally available free digital library to provide books to communities where history, poverty or remoteness are everyday barriers to accessing knowledge.

Our library serves a unique, curated collection of engaging content created by our international publishing team. We work tirelessly to publish children’s books that are high quality, age appropriate and culturally relevant for the communities that we serve. It’s critically important that children have access to books with stories, settings and characters they can relate to. After all, you cannot be what you cannot see.

We’ve made our application freely available to anyone with any Android device through the Google Play Store. We also partner with leading development organisations around the world to deploy our Spark Digital Library Kits to classrooms and communities. Additionally, we print and ship our curated collection as physical books to create libraries for classrooms, communities and homes wherever we are needed.

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Destiny and Sofia read Library For All using tablets from our Spark Digital Library Kits.

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The tablets have access to hundreds of books and create a personalised reading experience for each student.

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Our books are developed with local authors and illustrators to create original books that reflect the culture, language, and lived experiences of readers.

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Our library is segmented based on reading levels so that children have a graduated reading journey from simple stories to chapter books.

Say hello to Destiny and Sofia

Destiny and Sofia are benefiting from the Together For Education program in Papua New Guinea where Library For All is supporting World Vision, Childfund, The University of Canberra and CIMC to improve literacy rates for elementary aged students.

Learn more about our work

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Sign up to thrive – our inspirational monthly supporter update.

Each month we share stories from the field, our latest work and your contributions.

5 continents and 16 countries, our impact is now felt far and wide.

Our vision is to deliver our digital library to more than 20 million readers by 2030, but our impact goes beyond helping children to read.

Early data shows that over 130,000 children are reading with Library For All in the classroom, and also at home. This creates a positive flow-on effect, driving interest in books and literacy throughout the communities we serve.

Our impact extends to the local staff we employ to work directly with schools and communities, ensuring our technology is understood and its benefits realised. We offer workshop training and payments to authors and illustrators in communities where there is no publishing industry. We work with a global network of more than 350 paid and volunteer creatives to continually expand our collection.

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Map Legend

Communities where our programs are current and active.

Communities working with Library For All to explore program opportunities.

Our extensive author and illustrator network with over 350 contributors.

Help us reach our goals Read our Impact report

  • Our vision is to deliver our digital library to more than 20 million readers by 2030.

Help us put books in the hands of millions of children around the world.

Building knowledge starts with a strong foundation

Give the gift of reading to 250 children by donating a Foundation Kit to a school in Papua New Guinea. Each Foundation Kit contains 100 curated printed books specifically developed to build a strong foundation for a love of reading in school aged children while meeting their cultural and academic needs.

You can purchase a life changing Foundation Kit for just $498.65

Learn more

Donate a small amount each month

For less than a monthly Spotify subscription you can help us put books in the hands of children who need it most. Just $14.95 a month will help us deliver programs in Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Laos. There’s no fixed term and you can cancel at anytime.

Learn more

What’s in a Foundation Kit?

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Every Foundation Kit has 100 gorgeous full colour and expertly curated printed books just like these.

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Library For All books are developed to suit a broad range of reader ability. We have a range of levels to suit children at all reading abilities. The book Mikey and Billy’s Secret Place is a level 3 book developed for children who can read longer sentences and more complex vocabulary for progressing readers.

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All Library For All books are printed using sustainable and ethically sourced paper.

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To ensure our library has a diverse world view, we work with a global contributor network of more than 350 individuals in 16 countries on 5 continents.

Get your free download

Download your free poster

We commissioned one of our illustrators to design an original poster that conveys the essence of what Library For All is. We are thrilled with the result and now you can download a free copy for your desktop.

We help build the knowledge, skills and abilities of people in the communities we work with. Papua New Guinea is one such community where locals attend our writers’ workshops. This in-turn helps to build community capability and economic resilience. To date we have paid our community authors and illustrators approximately (AUD) $270,000. If you’d like to know more about our impact, download our latest Year In Review.

Rebecca McDonald Chief Executive Officer
Community Award Winner - Women in Technology (WiT) 2019

Sustainability in action

Did you know we create global impact by embracing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.