OPPORTUNITY CORNER
Soma Safari, a Book Ecosystem Project of the iSchool, Ships 50,000 Books to Kenya
By Julia Halprin Jackson
When Sara Russell, ’26 MLIS, enrolled in the graduate library and information science program at San José State University, she didn’t anticipate that a career in librarianship would include coordinating and tracking the shipment of 50,000 books from one continent to another. As one of several student interns involved in the Kenya Book Ecosystem Project, Russell and her peers connected with librarians and leaders in Kenya, as well as Anthony Chow, professor and director of the School of Information (iSchool) at San José State, to help establish a library infrastructure in Nairobi, Kenya.
“When I learned about the Book Ecosystem Project, I was very excited because my background is in global education,” says Russell, who previously served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa. “We work with a lot of different communities and countries. The chance to collaborate not only with other students, but all of these community partners, has been one of the best parts of my whole MLIS experience so far.”
The Book Ecosystem Project is the umbrella for several initiatives that Chow is leading to connect iSchool students to libraries around the world. Inspired by Reading Nation Waterfall, a program Chow developed in partnership with Native American and Indigenous tribal partners across the United States with the support of a three-year grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Book Ecosystem Project replicates the model in communities where access to literacy and libraries is limited. In 2025, iSchool Assistant Professor Ulia Gosart led similar efforts to donate books to Ukrainian libraries reeling from war.
The Kenya project, also known as Soma Safari (“reading adventure” in Swahili), is a collaborative early literacy pilot launched through a partnership between the iSchool, the Kenya National Library Service, Knowledge Empowering Youth (KEY) Libraries, Little Free Library and Books For Africa. Their shared goal is to install six community-based book-sharing libraries in hospitals, schools and shelters serving children age 4-8. Together with Books For Africa, Chow and her classmates, Russell has raised upward of $13,000 to cover the shipment of 50,000 books from Atlanta, Georgia, to Nairobi.
“Books For Africa is honored to work in partnership with the San José State University team, as well as the Kenya National Library Service and Little Free Library, to advance the cause of education and literacy in Kenya,” says Patrick Plonski, executive director of Books For Africa. “I am so pleased that we were able to deliver the first container holding 20 tons of books, and we look forward to partnering with this team to deliver many more books in the future! This has been an exciting project with dedicated supporters and leadership from San José State University.”
Anthony Chow (upper right) with Kenyan school children. Photo courtesy of Anthony Chow.
Jackie Leonard (center) with Arnold Mwanzu, associate professor at Aga Khan University in Kenya (left), and Nyakundi James Nyambane, at the American Library Association symposium. Photo courtesy of Jackie Leonard.
Soma Safari partners with Kenyan Ambassador David Kerich (behind the Little Free Library in red tie), and former Little Free Library Executive Director Grieg Metzger (second from right). Photo courtesy of Jackie Leonard.
Charles Ngui Nzivo, director general of the Kenya National Library Service (KNLS), adds that Soma Safari aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #4 on providing equitable access to education.
“The Soma Safari project brings books directly into the underserved communities, advancing SDG 4 on quality education and Kenya’s development agenda by nurturing a strong culture of reading among children and families,” he says.
“Little Free Library is proud to support the Soma Safari project by helping put books directly into the hands of kids who need them,” adds Daniel Gumnit, executive director and CEO of Little Free Library. “The Little Free Libraries we provided are more than structures — they are invitations to read, to connect and to share stories. We believe this project will help spread the joy and power of reading and strengthen access to books in meaningful, lasting ways.”
For Chow, who has served on the national board for Little Free Library since 2022, Soma Safari represents another way to partner with fellow literacy advocates, community leaders and librarians in areas known as “book deserts” — regions virtually bereft of children’s books. The Kenyan organizations involved in Soma Safari requested culturally relevant children’s literature, and by partnering with Little Free Library to install portable library boxes in neighborhoods and high-trafficked areas, Soma Safari will effectively bring libraries into the lives of children who may otherwise lack access to books.
“Librarianship is a way of thinking and advocating for the well-being of the community through information and literacy,” he says. “The formation of the Little Free Library boxes and libraries reflect the idea of librarians like Sara serving as leads who go out to the communities and serve people we’d otherwise never see. How gratifying is that?”
In a Soma Safari video, Kenyan partner Nyakundi James Nyambane, head librarian at KEY Libraries Trust, shares the impact that he believes the program will have.
“At KEY, we’ve seen how the right book in the right hands at the right time can transform a child’s world,” he says. “And that’s what we believe the Soma Safari initiative will do. It will inspire early literacy, inspire lifelong readers and help children across Kenya believe in their dreams and see a world full of possibilities through the stories they read.”
“As an MLIS student, I never imagined I would have the opportunity to collaborate directly with national and international library leaders and literacy partners. Working alongside organizations like the Kenya National Library Service and Little Free Library showed me that some of the most meaningful work libraries do happens when people and resources come together. That is where the real impact begins!”
— Jackie Leonard
All aboard
Even with these strategic international partnerships, it takes a lot of work to ship 50,000 books halfway around the world. As Soma Safari interns Russell and her peers discovered, even with donated books, it cost $22,000 to ship so many books halfway around the world. The Soma Safari team has had to learn how to navigate international shipping regulations and how to communicate with partners across time zones.
“This is a real-world project; it’s not theoretical,” she says. “So many people have had to work together to make this happen; Books For Africa, the Kenya National Library Service, the iSchool. That collaboration is what makes all this possible.”
“Soma Safari taught me that librarianship is as much about building relationships and creating sustainable systems as it is about books,” says Jackie Leonard, ’25 MLIS, who serves as a project manager. “As an MLIS student, I never imagined I would have the opportunity to collaborate directly with national and international library leaders and literacy partners. Working alongside organizations like the Kenya National Library Service and Little Free Library showed me that some of the most meaningful work libraries do happens when people and resources come together. That is where the real impact begins!”
Soma Safari: Where every child's journey begins with a book. Growing readers, growing futures.
Next steps
The Soma Safari mission extends beyond shipping and distributing free books in Kenya — the team also plans to introduce library and information science fundamentals to teachers through an online open access certificate, says Chow. Chow is leading this effort with the support of iSchool students Gina Mik, ’26 MLIS, Tiffany Runyan and Murph Murphy.
The open access certificate is a free five-week online course for school librarians in Kenya, explains Mik, who has been supporting the project. Inspired by a course developed by the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE), which provides training for California library paraprofessionals, the Kenyan project is a collaboration between the iSchool, SDCOE and KEY school libraries. The first two cohorts of Kenyan participants started in summer 2025, and the third group started in late February, with SJSU graduate students serving as teaching assistants.
The certificate program also offers direct support to two library sites in Kenya: an all-girls high school where the library is entirely student-run, and an orphanage that has a library serving its residents, the on-site school and the larger community.
“Participating in this program has shown me how big an impact we can have as librarians, not just within our own libraries, but worldwide,” says Mik. “Starting this online MLIS program, I didn’t expect to engage directly with so many libraries and organizations globally, but being involved in this project has given me hands-on experience in so many core competencies: global librarianship, cross-cultural collaboration, instructional practices, needs assessment, and advocacy. Working together as colleagues across continents, we can genuinely increase access to books and improve literacy. It’s the kind of project that makes an impact not only on the communities we serve, but on us as emerging information professionals.”
For iSchool graduate students like Runyan, who taught high school science for 12 years before shifting careers, the Soma Safari project exemplified the power of interdisciplinary collaboration.
“As a teaching associate for the certification course, I got to meet other educators in Kenya and help to teach them about some of the topics that I had learned myself as I earned both my teacher librarian credential, and my MLIS degree,” Runyan says. “This was very important to me because I believe that educators and those involved in educating children should try to assist each other do that work, and this project gave me that opportunity on a global scale.
“I really enjoyed meeting people from Kenya, getting the opportunity to help provide professional development for adults, and being able to learn about the similarities and differences in the education systems and librarianship between our two countries. Many of the participants in the course said that they felt the course was useful, and one of the participants in the course even told us afterward that it helped her find a job. It was really amazing to learn that the certificate made a concrete positive difference in someone's life.”
Chow hopes that his students see the impact they can have as librarians committed to increasing access to literacy worldwide.
“We have the distinction of being the largest MLIS program in the world,” says Chow. “We are in the heart of Silicon Valley, so we are strong and well-funded. We have the most diverse student body in the country. We are a global leader in librarianship, and that comes with expectations. What do we do with that mantle? We have this unique opportunity, in terms of size and reach, [to] truly be a global leader in library information science, and in the case of Soma Safari, literacy directly. So I think it fits perfectly with our mission at San José State and the iSchool of improving the quality of life for our communities.”
Help Soma Safari reach their goals
Top image: Anthony Chow (top left) at the Shelter Children's Home in Ngong, Kajiado County, Kenya. Purity Kavuri-Mutuku, a librarian with the Kenya National Library Service (KNLS), stands by his side. Photo courtesy of Anthony Chow. Center image: Photo of boxed books with the Books For Africa logo en route to Kenya. Photo: Soma Safari.
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