Sexual Assault Lending Library (A Pandora's Aquarium Project)

The Sexual Assault Lending Library is a project sponsored by Pandora's Aquarium, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(3)-pending organization. The goal of Pandora's Aquarium is to provide sexual violence support, awareness, and education. This library offers free or low-cost books and other materials to rape and sexual abuse survivors, aiming to arm men and women with education and supportive resources to help them make strides in their healing.
The Sexual Assault Lending Library - like all Pandora's Aquarium programs - is staffed by volunteers. For information on supporting this project or donating books, please contact the library staff at library[at]pandys.org.

Pandora's Aquarium also maintains the internet's largest online support community for sexual violence survivors. Join the message board and chat room to connect to others who have been victims of rape and sexual abuse.

The library is available only to members of the Pandora's Aquarium online support community - join us here.

In order to borrow materials from the Pandora's Aquarium's Sexual Assault Lending Library, make sure you meet the requirements for our pilot phase (listed below), and use the form on this page to check out a book. Within 48 hours of submission of this form, you will receive a confirmation by email. Your book will be mailed within one week.

The lending library began in June 2008, and is a new Pandora's Aquarium project in its pilot phase. We will use this phase to improve efficiency and workability, determine the needs of our community, and work out problems. During the pilot phase of this program, you must meet the following requirements to borrow materials:

be a Pandora's Aquarium online community member in good standing
have made 100 posts on the message forum
have a United States mailing address
be 13 years of age or older; if you are under 18, you must have permission from your parent/guardian to participate (this is required to comply with US federal law).
agree to the terms and conditions located below.

During the pilot phase, requirements and procedures may change to meet your needs and fit within our budget. As we receive additional funding and our library expands, we will open the program to all message forum members including those who live outside the United States. We hope to develop an automated library management inferface, and add more titles, more copies of popular titles, and DVDs (like Searching for Angela Shelton and Speak) for members to borrow.

During the pilot phase, each qualifying member can check out two books free of charge - in order to be free, the books must be shipped together. That means you should fill out the form to request book one, then fill out the form again to request your second book. Pandora's Aquarium, Inc. will cover the cost of shipping these books to you, along with an addressed and stamped envelope for you to use to return the books.

You will only be charged for these first books if you lose, damage, or fail to return the materials. In that event, you will be asked to pay the cost of a used copy and reimburse the organization for shipping. Please do not check out books if you have no intention of returning them; you deprive another survivor of the chance to grow and heal if you do not return materials.

During the intial phase, the due date for books is 45 days from the shipment date. We understand that variations in shipping time may delay returns, but please try to get materials in promptly. Contact us if the books will be late

If you'd like to check out an another book after your first, you may do so. However, you still must meet the requirements listed above, and you will be responsible for return shipping costs of the additional book (Pandora's Aquarium, Inc. will provide a return envelope and pay for outgoing shipping). Because you can ship using the book rate - Media Mail - shipping is inexpensive. Because we have a small library at this time, you may have only two books checked out at a time; we must have received and processed your first return for you to borrow again.

Books and other resources about sexual assault and recovery can play an important role in the healing process, but they can be hard to access. In a 2008 survey of Pandora's Aquarium's members, 64% had been unable to locate healing-related materials within their library's lending system and almost 40% of members cited cost as a barrier to buying books. Even if a library or bookstore has an extensive selection of material about sexual assault, 31% of respondents were too embarrassed to order or take them out.

We believe that education is an important part of healing, and each material in our library has been selected because we believe survivors will benefit from it. We also are aware that financial and social constraints inhibit some survivors from finding the resources they need. Our online support community is one step toward making resources accessible to all; this library is another step to reach that goal.