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Not just in villages and small towns, but even in large cities across Iran access to libraries is a privilege. More than 75% of schools do not have a library. And if they have one, the available books are outdated, worn out, and irrelevant to kids’ lives today. Books are only available in a print format which is inaccessible to many kids. There is a great shortage of accessible books for kids with special needs and they have to travel to central cities in larger provinces to access specialized libraries. Kids who speak different dialects cannot find books in their mother tongue, discouraging them from learning to read and write. Publishers only have access to limited markets and cannot reach kids in more remote and underprivileged regions in the country. There is no system to collect feedback from kids about the books they read and how they access them.
We discussed the idea of a digital library platform for kids with more than 40 educators, librarians, activists, community facilitators, kids with special needs, school and library builders, and charities. Through these conversations, we were able to understand what is needed to fulfill the current gaps. A team of youth consultants advised our team through the design and development of this library’s digital application. We aim to further improve this project by taking it through a pilot period before its public launch.
Kids between 6-16 will have access to a large collection of electronic, audio, and animated books. They can read an unlimited number of books online and save 3 books for offline reading at a time. Kids can customize their book collection based on their age, interests, language/dialect, and access needs. They can track their reading history, get book suggestions, and send feedback to publishers and authors.
Local and national publishers across Iran will also be actively involved in the development of this library application. They can contribute their books either in Farsi or other regional dialects to Boom and receive aggregated usage statistics. Educators and librarians can use Boom as a resource to enrich their lesson plans and encourage reading among students.
2019 – Present
Content development strategy
