everything but the girl

From The Leaky Cauldron, overnight:

Auction Money from TLC Readers to Buy Over 11,000 Books!

Hi all - we've just received word from Book Aid International - fantastic word - that the $23,000 donation you all made happen is going to provide 11,000 books for readers in the developing world. Please take this moment to pat yourselves heartily on the back. We have authorized the use of the money for readers in Kenya and Eritrea - Book Aid will be putting more information on their site shortly (so will we - like a full donor list, I promise) but here is information about the areas to which the money will be headed, to tide you over:

Kenya - This is a relatively stable country but still faces high levels of poverty and recent years have seen a decline in levels of school education that we're keen to help reverse. Our main partner in Kenya is the Kenya National Library Service. They take Book Aid International and distribute them so that they reach lots of different people throughout the country. They have branch libraries and community libraries, and run special services such as HIV/AIDS information provision. Schools benefit from their mobile library services, including a motorbike book box scheme, and can also apply to KNLS for books to stock their school libraries. They also run a camel mobile library service to get books out to the nomadic population living in the semi-desert province of Garissa!
Eritrea - Eritrea is a really poor country that has suffered a lot because of war in recent years and as a consequence the education system is in a state of disarray. The books for Eritrea will go to school libraries throughout the country.

Eleven thousand. Our $23,000 translated to 14,200 pounds - and that's a FIRST donation. After tax season we will donate the remainder to Book Aid with a promise of more to come in the future. Eleven thousand books. I can't stop saying it. Say it out loud, right now: eleven thousand books. Just...wow, guys. Wow. Thank you. Stay tuned.

Now, me:
I am so proud of the fandom right now - I am in awe of everything we can do when we work together. We are a wonderful collection of people, aren't we?

From The Leaky Cauldron (where I am a staff editor...):

The Leaky Cauldron is in need of a designer for our upcoming facelift, and we'd like him or her to be one of our talented readers. If you're interested, email designer@the-leaky-cauldron.org.

Include (as an attachment) an 800x600 JPG image of a mock-up of what you think our front page should become. Candidates should ideally have an extensive knowledge of HTML, CSS and accessible design (see http://www.webstandards.org), and of course a deep and abiding love for Harry Potter. Please include any relevant qualifications with your submission, as well as anything else you think we should know about you.

We're looking for a design that captures the fun of the movies & books (pics and themes) as well as resembles a cross between "The Leaky Cauldron" Pub and the "Daily Prophet" newspaper. The designer we choose will become part of the TLC team, spearhead our redesign and be on hand to help with further changes/developments at TLC. Submissions are due by July 15. Thank you in advance for your interest, and we're looking forward to seeing your concepts!