LLP is a professional organisation whose programmes - rooted in local Zambian communities and guided by Zambians - are owned and run by their urban and rural host organisations for the purpose of having Zambian adults guide and care for the nation’s children. Lubuto’s open-access libraries strive to fill a gap in services to orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC) by providing a bridge to schools and social services that are otherwise beyond their reach, particularly in the case of the street children.

Each Lubuto Library starts with 4,000 books, selected and organised into a well-balanced and comprehensive collection of sturdy books. The selection is guided by professionals in children’s libraries, OVC participation, and feedback from library users. Collections are assembled and catalogued by United States (US) volunteers using a specially-designed access system and are sent shelf-ready to Africa, where local-language books are added. Library staff appointed by the host organisation receive in-service training from professional librarians to offer enrichment programmes and services sensitised to users’ psychosocial needs. In addition, in 2009, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO laptops were introduced in Lubuto’s first library. The second Lubuto Library is being built in Lusaka's Garden Compound (opening of the second library is May 14 2010) and the third is planned for Nabukuyu. Funding is provided in part by private industry, a private foundation, and individual donors.

The environments of indigenously-styled Lubuto Library compounds are intrinsic to the experience and impact of library programmes on individual users. Using vernacular building patterns as a source of pride and celebration of Zambia’s cultures, the purpose-built structures are made to support Lubuto’s range of services and programmes. They include defined outdoor space for performances amid the library buildings.

Lubuto Libraries are based upon traditional Zambian approaches, rather than western educational systems, by which African children learn about the world and their place in it. Beyond its libraries, the Lubuto Project works to identify and bring traditional Zambian stories back into print. Lubuto is also developing a child protection policy and a girls’ outreach programme with the intention of benefiting other organisations that support OVC.

Children, Education, Gender.

"Lubuto" is a word in the Bemba language (of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) that signifies knowledge, enlightenment, and light. Lubuto was ‘born’ in Zambia, inspired by the observed impact of a makeshift library established in a converted shipping container at the Fountain of Hope in Lusaka in 2001, which enabled users to pass the secondary school exam and proved sustainable after 5 years with no external inputs. Lubuto’s headquarters are in Washington, DC, USA, an incorporated nonprofit since January 2005, whose regional office in Lusaka, Zambia has been a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO) since September 2005.

According to the organisation, Lubuto Libraries are internationally recognised as model library services for disadvantaged children, with specially designed programmes, led by Zambian professionals, that support children in developing their talents, skills, and self-esteem, including: Performing and Visual Arts; Literacy, Read-aloud and Storytelling; Motivational Mentoring; One Laptop Per Child XO laptops; HIV/AIDS and Health; Environment; and encouraging children to write their life stories and create their own books. Lubuto’s staff has designed its model to scale up to at least 100 libraries in Zambia and provide ongoing support to its library network with continuous staff training, collection enrichment and updating, programme revision based on community and user feedback, and evaluative studies. Its collection development policies and classification and access system will evolve, according to LLP, as new needs are identified.

In July 2009, at the American Library Association (ALA)'s annual conference in Chicago, Illinois, United States, the Lubuto Library Project was recognised for its “excellence and impact with the ALA President's Award for International Innovations”.