SAN DIEGO COUNTY: Library branches across the county will host free talks this week with Julia Bergman of the Central Asia Institute.

Bergman, president of the institute's board of directors, will discuss her work building schools and libraries in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Bergman, who also works as a library administrator with City College of San Francisco, is scheduled to speak at the El Cajon and Poway branches tomorrow and the Encinitas, Valley Center and Vista branches Wednesday.

The institute was founded by Greg Mortenson, co-author of “Three Cups of Tea.” The institute has helped build 61 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan since 1996. Mortenson created the institute after a failed attempt to scale Pakistan's K2, the second-highest mountain in the world. After descending the mountain, Mortenson was nursed back to health by villagers in nearby Korphe. The community school there became the institute's first project, and Bergman furnished the school's library. –L.N.