"Your enthusiasm for promoting reading is of great importance for the future of our country," Dr. Billington told participants on March 12 at the Center for the Book's annual "idea exchange" for its national reading promotion partners.
![Literacy campaign poster](images/cfb_1.jpg)
The Librarian also reminded his audience, "as people who obviously love the printed word," that the Library's highly publicized digital initiatives were aimed, in the long run, to help "bring people back to books, reading and libraries." The ultimate goal, he said, "is to make our citizens into lifetime learners," and "such an accomplishment is simply not possible without books or reading." The Librarian noted that, "as a modest step in this direction," the Center for the Book provides its signature "Read More About It" lists of suggested books for adults and young people as part of the National Digital Library's Learning Page. He also acknowledged the presence of former Center for the Book consultant Michael Thompson, "whose energy and persuasive telephone skills" launched the center's reading promotion partnership program in the early 1990s.
Forty-five educational and civic organizations sent representatives to the all-day meeting in the Library's Mumford Room, which was decorated with posters and T-shirts from previous campaigns and filled with descriptive literature about projects sponsored by partners in attendance. The meeting featured brief presentations by each organization about its principal current projects.
Left, Marie Harris Aldridge of WHCLIST; right, the National Book Foundation's Meredith Andrews. - Fern Underdue
Anne Boni, the center's project specialist who now oversees the partnership network, emphasized that the day's presentations would give partner organizations a good opportunity to inform others about their projects, publicize their activities and possibly gain new partners. She also presented an overview of current Center for the Book projects, highlighting Letters About Literature (discussed later in the day by consultant Cathy Gourley), River of Words and the Viburnum Foundation/Center for the Book Family Literacy Project. She noted that these and other projects offered many opportunities for continuing and building future partnerships. Program Officer Maurvene Williams said that many of the projects developed by the Center for the Book and its partner organizations are described on the center's expanding and increasingly popular Web site (www.loc.gov/cfbook). She encouraged partners to review the descriptions of their organizations and their projects on the site.
Left, Jon Randall and Robbin Sorensen of the National Coalition for Literacy; center, Pete Neal from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; right, Tela Hansom-Pitt of PBS Literacy Link. - Fern Underdue
Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole introduced the Library's new national reading promotion theme for 2001-2003: "Telling America's Stories." Sponsored jointly by the Center for the Book and the Library's American Folklife Center, "Telling America's Stories takes advantage of the Local Legacies Project and the Library's new Web site for children and families, America's Library (www.americaslibrary.gov), both launched in 2000 during the Library's Bicentennial; the Library's new Veterans' History Project; and the Center for the Book's national networks of affiliated state centers and reading promotion partners. Information about how to participate in the campaign is available on the Center for the Book's Web site. First lady Laura Bush will be the campaign's honorary chair.
Left, other presenters at the March 12 idea exchange included Laubach Literacy Action's Sylvia Keene with Jason King of Turning the Page; center, Suzanne Barchers of Weekly Reader; right, Sandy Dolnick from Friends of Libraries USA with Mary Costabile of the Washington office of the American Library Association. - Fern Underdue
Center for the Book Reading Promotion Partners at the Annual Meeting on March 12
American Booksellers Association
American Foundation for the Blind
American Library Association
Book Adventure Foundation
Books for Kids Foundation
Cartoonists Across America and the World
Church and Synagogue Library Association
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Correctional Education Association
Council for Professional Recognition
District Lines Poetry Project
Everybody Wins! D.C.
Favorite Poem Project
First Book
Friends of Libraries U.S.A.
General Federation of Women's Clubs
International Reading Association
Institute of Museum and Library Service
KIDSNET
The Knowledge Project
Laubach Literacy
Letters About Literature
Lutheran Church Library Association
National Book Foundation
National Coalition for Literacy
National Council of Teachers of English
National Education Association, READ ACROSS AMERICA
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Federation of Press Women
National Literacy Summit Initiative
New Jersey Connection
PBS Literacy Link
Pizza Hut, BOOK IT!
Prime Time with PJ
Read Out and Read National Center
Turning the Page
U.S. Dept. of Education
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science Taskforce
United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY)
Virginia Center for the Book
Virginia Department of Education
Washington Literacy Council
Weekly Reader Corp.
Women's National Book Foundation
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