On the outside, it looks like any other industrial building. But inside this Atlanta warehouse are cardboard boxes full of knowledge soon to be exported across the world.

Minnesota-based Books for Africa began its quest to alleviate the continent's "book famine" in 1988. Last May, the nonprofit began using Atlanta as a second hub to carry out its mission.

Books for Africa collects books from publishers, companies and individuals all over the U.S. and Canada, sorts them, and ships them in 20- to 40-foot containers across the Atlantic. The Atlanta warehouse has compiled about 400,000 titles. As funding allows, the organization sends batches to a continent starving for education.

"We're bombarded by magazines, newspapers, books - everywhere we're looking - media, news. And we don't realize what it's like not to have that access to information," said Deb McDonald, assistant director for Books for Africa in Atlanta.

Though it's an inland city, Books for Africa chose Atlanta because for its volunteers' work ethic, as revealed in a study by graduate students at the University of Minnesota, Ms. McDonald said.

"I don't think I've ever been in a city that quite is this into volunteering. We have so many volunteers there are days have to say, no, we can't take anymore, we're full," she added.

On a recent August afternoon, local volunteers braved the heat to help sort books headed to Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.

For Nigeria native Benedict Oleforo, an AT&T employee, the work has a personal meaning.

"It's very rewarding because I know first hand what a lot of kids go through and the lack of finances, books, so knowing that this is going to help a lot of them study better and learn about other cultures is something I appreciate," Mr. Oleforo said.

For Shanee Person, a manager at Accenture in Atlanta, volunteering is a way to use down-time constructively.

"It feels good to be accomplishing something without having even gone to Africa," Ms. Person said.

A 40-foot container costs about $9,800 to ship from Atlanta to a port city in Africa, but Ms. McDonald says it can cost up to $25,000 or more for remote areas.

"We have recently sent to Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ghana, the Gambia and Nigeria; that's just been since June 1."

Ms. McDonald said the organization has a special need for science and post-secondary books. Companies can help by providing volunteers or donations.

Books for Africa provided 22,000 books for Atlanta-based nonprofit inABLE, which is establishing libraries in village schools and in a school for the blind in rural Kenya. The books shipped from Atlanta earlier this month with the help of a $10,000 donation from Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile phone service provider. 

For more information, see the video interviews above.

To help, call (651) 602-9844 or visit www.booksforafrica.org.

Related: 

Finally, 22,000 Books Headed From Atlanta to Africa

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