By JOHN Y. COLE
More than 40 states were represented at the Center for the Book's annual "idea exchange" for affiliated state centers, which was held at the Library of Congress in May. The event featured discussions led by state center coordinators and the center's annual Library Legislative Day reception. The 125 people attending the reception included many state librarians and representatives from Center for the Book partnership organizations such as the American Library Association (ALA), the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington welcomed attendees. ALA President Michael Gorman, dean of library services at California State University at Fresno, praised the Center for the Book's broad-based approach to promoting literacy, which, he said "should be an essential component of all library services."
For the benefit of the many coordinators attending their first idea exchange, this writer opened the May 1 meeting with a capsule history of the state center movement. Florida became the first state affiliate in 1984. The District of Columbia was added in 2000 and New Hampshire became the 50th state center in 2002—the Center for the Book's 25th anniversary year. Each works with the national center to promote its local authors, books, libraries and the state's literary and cultural heritage. The centers also must fund their own projects and apply for renewal every three years.
Coordinators discussed state center participation in the newly announced Library of Congress "lifelong literacy" national public service advertising campaign (see May 2006 issue of the Library of Congress Information Bulletin), the Pavilion of States at the National Book Festival and continuing projects such as Letters About Literature, Reading Powers the Mind, River of Words and the community-wide One Book reading initiatives. The Arkansas, Florida and South Dakota state centers each were congratulated for receiving a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to implement a "Big Read" pilot project ( NEA's version of the One Book program).
Boorstin Awards
Ruth Boorstin, whose husband, Daniel J. Boorstin, former Librarian of Congress, established the Center for the Book in 1977, once again recognized five innovative reading promotion projects among the state centers with awards of $1,000 each. The states and the citations describing their accomplishments follow:
Alabama. The Alabama State Center (www.alabamabookcenter.org) was honored for its recent "Alabama Gets Caught Reading" initiative, which was adopted by the Association of American Publishers as a "national model."
Idaho. The Idaho State Center (www.lili.org/icb/) was cited for its exceptionally creative book arts program, which includes "Booker's Dozen," a biennial traveling exhibition of contemporary artists and eccentric books designed and produced by Idahoans, and "Idaho Authors!," an educational card game for the entire family.
North Carolina. The North Carolina State Center (http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/ld/nccftb/cftb.htm) was recognized for making book and author discussion programs more prominent in the national Center for the Book network, for efficiently managing the Center for the Book's listserv and for helping to coordinate state participation in the Pavilion of the States at the National Book Festival (which will be held on Sept. 30 this year, on the National Mall).
West Virginia. The West Virginia State Center (www.wvcenterforthebook.lib.wv.us) was recognized for three successful initiatives: One Book, One West Virginia, a statewide book discussion group; a new West Virginia literary map; and "In Their Own Country," a radio project that includes a set of CDs featuring visits with 14 West Virginia writers.
Wyoming. The Wyoming State Center (www-wsl.state.wy.us/wcb/) received kudos for its success in promoting the state's writers and literary heritage in a variety of ways, including the Wyoming Authors Database and through the pages of its handsome quarterly publication, "The Wyoming Library Roundup."
John Y. Cole is director of the Center for the Book.