Used Book Sales in NCKU Library for Charity on Sep 21st

Welcome all people to join together for “the Sixth Used Book Sales in NCKU Library for Charity” on the entrance hall from 10 am to 5 pm on Sep 21st. Clients may not only have chances to pay less for their favorite books, but also to contribute to the charity and public welfare. Prof. Wen-Jen Hsieh as the Director of NCKU Library, who has supported such used books sale for a long time, will open “the Sixth Secondhand books sale” and buy some used books.

The NCKU library has held the annual used book sales since 2004, and it will be the sixth this year. It has received high regards for organizing this book sale from the community with the concept in mind on “cost-effective and knowledgeable book sales for students and community and concerning environment as well as caring the disadvantaged”. The NCKU Library has already collected nearly ten thousands volumes of books during the past five years for this book sale, which was sold in total for more than NT$ 600,000 that has been donated to various charity organizations, such as the Tainan Branch of the Genesis Social Welfare Foundation, Tainan Office of the Taiwan Funds for Children and Family, St. Raphael Opportunity Center, and Tainan Country Care and Concern Association on Intellectual Disability.

To prepare for the annual used book sales in September, the NCKU library started to gear up hard every May to prepare necessary poster and promotion propaganda, and to collect, clean and classify used books since June. Though it is easy to buy or sell used books everywhere, the NCKU Library still works the best to organize this book sale and to coordinate efforts from NCKU community in order to contribute to the charity and the society. As a result, more than 3000 volumes of used books, the most ever, were collected from about 130 well-wishers.

The total sum sold in this year’s “Used Books for Sale” will be donated to the St. Raphael Opportunity Center which is a day care center for children and adults with developmental or multiple disabilities from moderate and severe to profound degree. Father Hugo Peter, the Director of St. Raphael Opportunity Center who came from Switzerland to Taiwan in 1971, recently published a memoir entitled “Thirty-Seven Years Leave No Blank” 2008 with a price tag of NT$ 200. On Sep 21st, namely the first day of the book sale, Father Peter will have a book signing party from 10 am to 11 am on the entrance hall of the NCKU Library for those who purchase his book. All sale amount of Father Peter’s memoir will be combined in the total sale sum of the used books and given to the St. Raphael Opportunity Center.

About St. Raphael Opportunity Center: (referring from http://stra.hmps.tn.edu.tw/)

"St. Raphael" is a day care center for children and adults with developmental or multiple disabilities from moderate and severe to profound degree. It was founded on 23 December, 1974, and has been legally registered with the City Government of Tainan as a social welfare organization since 1982. At present almost 300 clients (children and adults with developmental delay or disabilities) use our regular services. The Center has a staff of 120 educators, therapists, social workers, office workers and drivers.

St. Raphael Opportunity Center’s social work is responsible for interviewing the parents of prospective clients at the Center and for home-bound services. It informs the parents about welfare subsidies and teaches them how to apply. It is in contact with the public and welfare institutions and provides information about related services. It also makes the necessary arrangements for those visiting our Center.

The Tainan City Bureau of Social Affairs entrusted St. Raphael with the operation of the “Early Intervention Notification and Referral Center and Case Management Center for Infants with Develop- mental Delay”. These two services are managed by St. Raphael’s Social Work Section.

The Center's five kinds of clients are taught by specialized educators and therapists with the help of an “Individual Educational Program” or “Individual Rehabilitation Program”:

A. Early Intervention Program: infants with developmental delay from birth to 6 years.

B. Pre-school Program: ages 3 to 6.

C. Primary School Program: children with profound and multiple disabilities, ages 6 to 12.

D. Adults Program: ages 18 and up.

E. Vocational Rehabilitation Program, Vocational Training & Supported Employment, ages 18 and up.

The Tainan City Bureau of Labor Affairs entrusted St. Raphael with the operation of the “Employment Assistance Evaluation” for people with disabilities. This service is run by St. Raphael’s Vocational Assistance Section

St. Raphael Opportunity Center is aware that the quality of services, opting for more inclusion and community-based services, and planning regular day services for wheelchair-bound adults with severe and profound multiple disabilities. In Tainan's large and fast developing Annan district St. Raphael just started a second Early Intervention Program. Our objective is to render services to 100 infants with developmental delay and their families.

St. Raphael Opportunity Center considers public awareness of the needs of individuals with intellectual and multiple disabilities an important task. It also tells the public that people who are intellectually challenged deserve the same respect and have the same rights as others.

About National Cheng Kung University (NCKU):

NCKU is located in the ancient city of Tainan, the historical and ancient cultural capital city of Taiwan, which boasts more than 50 national relics sanctioned by the government and is approximately 250 kilometers south of Taipei. It is connected to all major cities in Taiwan by the recently initiated state-of-the-art Taiwan High Speed Rail. Further, this historical heritage is the pride of Tainan City and represents a rich cultural resource to NCKU. The technological sectors in the Southern Taiwan Science Park offer students at NCKU with a stage to apply what they have learned into practice.

With three quarters of a century of distinguished history, with well over 130,000 powerful alumni now dotting the globe, many have achieved supreme successes in arts, business, education, science, technology and healthcare and are ready and willing to assist, with 22,000 academic selective students and 1200 academically significant faculty members currently, both have healthy dosage of international flavor, with enormous regional support, and with a permeating culture of proactive intellectual growth on the world’s stage, NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan, has evolved from its engineering genesis to become a powerful comprehensive, research and international university in Asia Pacific.

Since NCKU’s establishment in 1931, it has developed into a research intensive and comprehensive university with integrated academic fields in nine colleges: Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Planning & Design, Management, Social Sciences, Medicine, and Bioscience & Biotechnology. NCKU currently offers 40 undergraduate programs (excluding Program of Bachelor’s Degree), 78 master’s degree programs, 54 doctoral programs and 20 master’s degree programs for working professionals.