Filling the Dryden Street Dream Library shelves

Every child deserves access to books and to learn to love reading

At Dryden Street Primary School in Salt River, Cape Town that's not yet a reality. Right now, the school has no library, no librarian, and no dedicated reading space. Many learners have never had regular, easy access to books — and the opportunity to develop a genuine love of reading simply hasn't existed here. Yet.

We are the Otto Foundation, and we're here to change that.

About the Dream Library Project

Dryden Street Primary is the first library in what will become a new Otto Foundation hub - a cluster of Otto Libraries serving the Salt River / Woodstock communities. It's a first for this area, and a milestone for us: the beginning of something bigger.

We don't drop off books and leave. We build something lasting.

We build fully functioning, professionally stocked libraries inside under-resourced schools — and then we stay. Each library is staffed by a trained Otto Foundation librarian who runs structured reading programmes, fosters a love of re...