BetterWorldBooks

The weekly meeting heard from Emma Houston, a Client Services Consultant with BetterWorldBooks.

Started by three students at Notre Dame University, Indiana,USA, this venture now operates worldwide. In a nutshell, Better World Books keeps books out of landfill and supports literacy by selling them on multiple online marketplaces. Customers have made it the world's biggest socially responsible used bookseller. It is not a charity, but a pioneering social business. It also work closely with libraries, student groups and sustainability officers.

Many people don't realise that disposing of surplus books can be a huge issue so the BetterWorld Books free service is pretty popular. Nobody likes seeing books thrown into skips! It is a for profit socially minded business that is in the front line of the fight to reduce global poverty through education. Having already raised £22 million for promoting literacy endeavours worldwide,

Emma Houston put everything into sharp and local focus. BetterWorldBooks believe that In Fife, around 63,000 adults face occasional literacy challenges - and 8.500 adults can barely read or write, if at all. With Club members clearly concerned that present day literacy problems still handicap too many lives, the BetterWorldBooks website at http://betterworldbooks.co.uk merits close attention.

Rotarian Ron McGill thanked Emma for highlighting this worthwhile venture.