We champion digital reading in underserved
communities to create a world where
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Everyone can be a reader
We begin with access.
We don’t stop until we get people reading.
Digital reading has the power to reach billions. It also has the power to inspire. We work with parents, teachers and librarians to foster reading cultures.
We empower readers at every stage of life
We join forces with partners to make a bigger difference
We work across sectors to catalyze systems change: testing bold new models, building the evidence for impact, supporting partners to integrate digital reading into their work, and then scaling to the next level.
We deliver high quality, engaging and relevant content
Readers everywhere connect with stories they can see themselves in. We nurture the development of local publishing industries to support strong reading ecosystems.
And it’s working
We’re helping people read well, read more and develop a love for reading. Each step of the way we’re experimenting, iterating and following the data to amplify our impact.
Reading: Your Bridge to Adventure
There’s a new painting on a pale-pink wall of Kiuyu Mbuyuni School library on Pemba, an island just off Tanzania’s eastern coast. It depicts the island – recognisable for its lush greenery – connected to the rest of the world via a bridge. The bridge itself seems to hang in the clouds, leading to a library marked … Continue Reading →
National Scale Project Turns Kenyan Libraries into Digital Hubs
By Rebecca Chandler Leege, Chief Impact Officer, Worldreader Just last week we received a note from a man named Michael Kazungu in Kenya. Michael is the Head Librarian at knls Kwale Library. As part of LEAP 2.0 the library received a batch of e-readers in February 2017 and since then Michael has been incredibly … Continue Reading →
Our 2017 Annual Report
Worldreader is eight years old. A lot can happen in eight years: in 2010, the iPad had just come out, fewer than 35% of Americans owned smartphones, and the Mars Rover had not yet landed on the surface of our next-door neighbor. Today, tablets and mobile phones are everywhere, 77% of Americans own a smartphone … Continue Reading →
Less is More: An Important Milestone for Readers
The Worldreader Library has reached a new milestone with 35,020 e-books in 43 languages for our readers in the global south. This milestone is rather different, representing a reduction in the size of our library by about 7000 titles. And we’re really excited about what this represents for our readers. We’ve always placed readers at … Continue Reading →
