Developing Lifetime Readers
A Report on the 1991 "Year of the Lifetime Reader" Promotion Campaign
of the Library of Congress
Edited by John Y. Cole
Washington: Library of Congress, 1993
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface 5
Introduction 7
National Events 9
State Events 13
Projects in the Schools 18
Publicity 21
Posters and Publications 26
National Associations and Organizations
28
Public Interest: Some Statistics
42
Appendix:
Partners of the Library of Congress in the
Year of the Lifetime Reader Promotion Campaign
43
3
Reading promotion-increasing awareness of the importance of reading for individuals and for society-is one of the reasons the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress exists. The Center was established in 1977 by Public Law 95-129 to stimulate public interest in books and reading and in the role print culture plays in the diffusion of knowledge. This ambitious purpose was to be accomplished through a program of activities supported by private contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations.
Today, a national reading promotion network of more than 100 organizational partners and 27 state centers for the book, all affiliated with the Center for the Book, helps us accomplish our mission. For up-to-date information about organizational partners, state centers, and their reading promotion projects, write the Center for the Book, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540.
At the 1985 meeting of the Center for the Book's national advisory board, Pat Holt, book review editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, suggested that the Center sponsor a "Year of the Reader." With help from Pat and many others, 1987 was so designated-and the Center for the Book's program of national reading promotion campaigns was launched. "1989-The Year of the Young Reader" brought organizations and individuals concerned with children and young people into our reading promotion network. First Lady Barbara Bush agreed to serve as honorary chair of the "1991-The Year of the Lifetime Reader" campaign, which focused on family literacy and is described in this report. Mrs. Bush's involvement as honorary chair continued in "Explore New Worlds-READ!," our 1992 campaign that emphasized geography and the literature of travel and exploration. "Books Change Lives" is the theme for 1993-94.
What is a national reading promotion campaign? How does one participate? Since 1989, an attractive brochure addressing these questions has accompanied each effort, thanks to the generosity of Pizza Hut, Inc., sponsor of the BOOK IT!® National Reading Incentive Program in America's schools. This report-compiled by Center for the Book consultant Michael Thompson, who helps coordinate campaign activities-provides details about how the Year of the Lifetime Reader project developed and what happened in schools, libraries, bookstores, and other organizations around the country. We hope his detailed description will stimulate ideas and participation in reading and literacy campaigns for years to come.
JOHN Y. COLE
Director
The Center for the Book
This selective report on the celebration of the "Year of the Lifetime Reader" (YLR) has a threefold purpose:
- to review the events, projects, and activities that took
place across the country and made the campaign so effective;
- to stimulate thinking on how to make future campaigns even more effective;
- and to make available the ideas that have already
been proven effective in the promotion of reading.
Naturally, we hope that all those who consult this report share our belief that reading is essential to the realization of individual potential and to the health of a democratic society.
In order to bring our 1991 campaign and its message to the attention of the public, advance planning and the enthusiasm of the participants were vital. The results bear this out. A major difference between this year's effort and earlier ones was the greatly expanded number of organizational partners, which rose
from 8 during 1989's "Year of the Young Reader" campaign to the 109 listed below. Many of these groups were participating in a literacy or reading promotion campaign for the first time.
The involvement of so many diverse organizations in the 1991 "Year of the Lifetime Reader" clearly shows a widening recognition of the need to overcome the deficiencies in education that weigh on the economic, cultural, social, and political future of the country. It also reflects the decision by the Library of Congress to carry this message to a broader public than ever before.
The photographs included in this report celebrate reading throughout America. They were the national and honorable mention winners in the "To Be a Lifetime Reader" photo contest, sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the American Library Association, and World Book, Inc. The 13 national winners were announced during National Library Week in 1991.
7
1990
June
The Center for the Book and Pizza Hut's BOOK IT! program began distribution of the YLR brochure, heralding the 1991 campaign. Production costs were funded by Pizza Hut, Inc.
June 24
The American Library Association announced a nationwide YLR photo contest, cosponsored by the Center for the Book and funded by World Book, Inc., with a grand prize of $2,000, a trip to Washington, D.C., and a tour of the Library of Congress for the photographer who best portrayed the pleasure of reading. Cash prizes of $1,000, $500, and $250 will be given to runners-up in the youth and adult divisions.
July 17
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington greeted First Lady Barbara Bush at the Library of Congress on the occasion of her receiving the highest award of the Women's National Book Association (a YLR partner). Dr. Billington thanked Mrs. Bush for her efforts to promote reading and her willingness to serve as honorary chair of the forthcoming YLR campaign.
November 15
The Center for the Book and the Book-of-the-Month Club announced a joint project to survey the development of lifetime reading habits. To this end, the Book-of-the-Month Club began mailing questionnaires on lifetime reading habits
to a representative sample of 5,000 of its members.
1991
All year
The Library of Congress's National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a participant in the YLR, emblazoned the cover of its 1991 information folder with a large reproduction of the campaign logo, including its slogan "Books Give Us Wings" and words identifying 1991 as the
Year of the Lifetime Reader.
All year
The Department of Defense Dependents' Schools System used the YLR theme in its Director's "Challenge of Reading" and other reading activities in 269 schools serving military and other U.S. Government dependents in 19 countries around the world.
9
January 7
The Center for the Book kicked off the campaign by holding a YLR Idea Exchange, for its organizational partners, attended-despite a snowstorm-by representatives of more than 40 civic and professional associations participating in the campaign. Most of those present came from offices in the Washington area, but participants also came from Baltimore, New York City, and Austin, Texas.
April 1
The Center for the Book took part in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll and passed out 6,000 "I'm Going to Be a Lifetime Reader" lapel stickers among the youngsters.
Librarian of Congress James Billington presented Vice President Dan Quayle and his wife with "Lifetime Reader" T-shirts, while wives of cabinet members read aloud to children.
April 14
The Center for the Book and the American Library Association announced the winners of the YLR photo contest.
April 15
Representatives from more than 20 state centers for the book met at the Library of Congress for the third annual "idea exchange", sponsored by the Center for the Book. Simon Michael Bessie, center chairman, and John Y. Cole, center director, dubbed it "State Center Day" and congratulated attendees for their success in promoting the joys of reading.
April 29
The Postmaster General presented the Librarian of Congress with a framed advance copy of the U.S. Postal Service's literary stamp poster, which announced a new commemorative stamp honoring the writer William Saroyan and invited the public to celebrate the YLR.
June 21
Seventh-grader Lisa Brower, winner of READ magazine's "Books Make A Difference" essay contest, was honored at the Library of Congress during her awarded trip to Washington D.C.
11
August 30
The exhibit of the 25 winning entries in YLR photo contest opened at the Library of Congress.
September 9
Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) student Julie Kimball concluded a coast-to-coast walk for literacy, "On the Road for Reading," with a ceremony in front of the James Madison Memorial Building of the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C. LVA President Jinx Crouch and Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole, joint sponsors of the ceremony, were on hand to greet her.
October 17
Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) and the Center for the Book jointly celebrated the 25th anniversary of the founding of RIF and the YLR by holding a Children's Book Party at the Library of Congress.
November 7
The Center for the Book, in collaboration with the U.S.
Department of Education, hosted a reception at the Library of Congress to commemorate the YLR and the silver anniversary of enactment of the Adult Education Act. The reception was attended by more than 100 leaders from a wide variety of literacy-related organizations.
November 20
First Lady Barbara Bush held a tea at the White House to honor participants and sponsors of the YLR.
November 20-21
The American Library Association and the Center for the Book held a conference at the Library of Congress on "Developing the Lifetime Reading Habit: Libraries, Youth and Elders." They discussed actions that would encourage library involvement in intergenerational reading projects and considered the implications of the Book of the Month Club/ Center for the Book survey of the development of lifetime reading habits. Coverage of the survey in newspapers and on television shows reached millions of readers and viewers.
12
CALIFORNIA
In January 1991, a commemorative YLR wall calendar-illustrated with photographs of readers of all ages-was issued under the sponsorship of the following organizations: the California State Library Foundation; the California Center for the Book; the Santa Barbara Public Library; San Diego READ/San Diego Public Library; the County of Los Angeles Public Library; the Palm Springs Public Library; the Santa Monica Public Library; the San Bernardino County Library; the Sacramento Public Library; the San Berardino Public Library; Friends of the San Francisco Public Library; the City of Commerce Public Library; the Lompoc Public Library; the Lake County Public Library; Imperial Valley Libraries; Bruggemeyer Memorial Library, City of Monterey Park; the National City Public Library; the San Diego County Library; the Santa Fe Springs City Library; the Literacy Alliance for South Bay; the Los Angeles Public Library; Literacy Volunteers of America-California; and Literacy Volunteers of America-Santa Barbara. In July, The California State Library Foundation Bulletin carried an announcement of the issuance by the U.S. Postal Service of a poster saluting the YLR. In October 1991, the municipal council of Carson-which adopted the motto, "A City That Reads-joined with its regional library in celebrating the YLR by
designating November as "Literacy Awareness Month". The municipal council received a congratulatory letter from the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. The Winter issue of the Alameda County Library newsletter, Connections, carried a front-page article describing and
listing ways to celebrate the YLR.
COLORADO
IBM sponsored the YLR program of the Colorado Center for the Book, as it had for the Center's Year of the Young Reader's program in 1989. In April 1991, the Center adopted the National Library Week theme, "Kids Who Read-Succeed!" In October, as part of Center's program, the Denver Post organized a "Books Give Us Wings" drawing and essay writing contest for students in grades K-12.
CONNECTICUT
The November 1990 issue of Cema Update, the newsletter of the Connecticut Educational Media Association, devoted its centerfold to information about the YLR, including an announcement of the YLR photo contest, suggestions from the campaign brochure, and a reproduction of the campaign logo along with encouragement for readers to reprint it in their own publications. In July 1991, the order of service of
13
the Unitarian Church in Westport carried the YLR logo on its cover and the service included sections on the YLR, "Why I read," "Reading," "What about today's youth? (How many hours have they spent being read to?)," and "Books as gifts."
DELAWARE
In April 1991, the Westminster Presbyterian Church Library, of Wilmington, used the "Books Give Us Wings" logo and the YLR theme in a display to encourage reading.
FLORIDA
In October 1990, the Florida Center for the Book, the Broward County Library, and the Miami Herald cosponsored a YLR photo contest. In December 1990, the Palm Beach County Library Association announced its participation in the YLR photo contest sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the ALA. The St. Petersburg, Florida, Weekly Challenger of January 12, 1991, carried an information item on the YLR in its "Pointers for Parents" column.
ILLINOIS
The Illinois Center for the Book and the State Library of Illinois cosponsored a YLR symposium, "Linking Libraries with Other Agencies That Serve Youth."
INDIANA
The Indiana Literacy Coordinating Committee distributed 200 YLR brochures at a Literacy for the 90's conference held November 2-3, 1990, at Anderson, Iowa.
IOWA
In 1990, the Sioux City Public Library sponsored a contest to create a drawing that illustrated the theme of lifetime reading. Drawings by the 12 winners-children from 6 to 14 years of age-were featured in successive monthly issues of the Library's Children's Events Calender during 1991.
Each participant received a complimentary bookmark and a congratulatory letter from the library's Youth Services. On October 12, 1991-on the occasion of the Libraries' Annual Great Book Read Across Iowa (LAGBRAI) and the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Public Library of Des Moines-the Library and the Iowa Center for the Book cosponsored a celebration of lifetime reading held at the Library. The highlight of the event was the award of The Library of America's Selections from the Writings of Thomas Jefferson to two veteran users of the Public Library. Both of these patrons had kept records of the books they had read, one dating back 30 years and the other over 60 years.
To further commemorate the occasion, free booklets entitled My Lifetime Reading Log were given out to 200 of those who had witnessed the awards presentation. The booklets consisted of blank pages, each with a designated place to inscribe the title of the book, the author, and the date the
book was read.
MICHIGAN
The state legislature approved a resolution proclaiming 1991
14
the YLR. The Michigan Center for the Book and the 4-H Youth Programs became partners in reading promotion.
MINNESOTA
The Minnesota Association of Library Friends produced a 1991 wall calendar to disseminate "theme suggestions, activities, plan strategies, and resources to assist libraries and friends in planning for the Year of the Lifetime Reader."
MONTANA
The November-December 1990 issue of Montana Woman, the bimonthly of the Montana Federation of Women's Clubs, drew the attention of its readers to the YLR and referred
them to the Center for the Book for program ideas.
NEBRASKA
The October 1990 issue of Overtones, the newsletter of the Nebraska Library Commission, announced the YLR photo contest in an article illustrated by the "Books Give Us Wings" logo. On February 12, 1991, Governor Ben Nelson proclaimed 1991 as Nebraska YLR, a year-long celebration cosponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book and the Nebraska Library Commission. The Commission Director presented the Governor with a copy of Our Books, Our Wings, published by the Nebraska Library Commission, a collection of memories of books and stories meaningful from childhood through adulthood for 318 Nebraskans. On September 27-28, 1991, the Nebraska Center for the Book and the University of Nebraska at Omaha cosponsored the first Nebraska Literature Festival, which celebrated Nebraska's literary heritage and its contemporary writers.
NEW JERSEY
The January 1991 issue of NJEA, a monthly review of the New Jersey Education Association, devoted three pages to an article entitled, "Celebrate in 1991: Year of the Lifetime Reader," which reproduced suggestions from the campaign brochure and gave readers a preview of the plans for
15
celebrating the year, drawn up by the New Jersey Connection. On April 25, New Jersey Commissioner of Education, Dr. John Ellis, presented Enthusiastic Reader Winners Awards at the New Jersey Library Association Conference. New Jersey First Lady Lucinda Florio presented Public Service Electricity & Gas Company's educational manager with a copy of the Library of America's Selections from the Writings of Thomas Jefferson in recognition of their support of the New Jersey Connection's efforts on behalf of the YLR. Mrs. Florio and Mrs. Ellis, wife of the Commissioner of Education, read at the Conference "readaloud". By May, 27 public "readathons" had been scheduled across the state. In June, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce agreed to include a YLR brochure printed by Public Service
Electricity & Gas in a statewide mailing.
NEW YORK
In June 1991, the Institute of Publishing and Writing, at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, held a week-long institute on "Children's Books in the Marketplace: Celebrating the Year of the Lifetime Reader." In September, the annual book fair organized by New York Is Book Country, Inc.
held a "Lifetime Reader Favorite 'Classics' Author Poll."
OHIO
In celebration of the YLR, the Ohio Center for the Book and the Ohio State Library cosponsored "Long-lived Books for Lifetime Reading," a program for book collectors with small collections that dealt with the care and handling of books. The North American Heating & Air Conditioning Wholesalers Association (NHAW), of Columbus, Ohio, produced a flier for its NHAW Home Study Institute on the importance of lifelong learning. It drew the students' attention to the Librarian of Congress's designation of 1991 as the YLR and carried a reprint of the YLR logo.
OKLAHOMA
The state senate approved a resolution proclaiming 1991 the YLR. The Literacy Office of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Center for the Book, sent a comprehensive information packet on the YLR to every library in the state. The packet included, among other things, a YLR brochure; campaign bookmarks; a sample YLR proclamation and press release; information on National Young Reader's Day; lists of suggested reading for children, young adults, and adults.
PENNSYLVANIA
Governor Richard Casey proclaimed 1991 the "Year of the Lifetime Reader." On October 27, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book and the Readers and Writers Roundtable celebrated the YLR with an imaginative program described as "A challenging look at literary America today in relation to politics, academia and society as a whole." It began with a brunch for participants, with writers of different genres hosting separate tables. It continued with panel and group discussions on such issues as "Kids Who Read Succeed,"
"Writing in the '90's: Finding Your Way into the Marketplace," "Writing in the American Culture: Annihilation of the Individual," "Publishing," "Popular Fiction," and "Nonfiction". And it concluded with a session in which authors signed copies of their works. Participating authors and
16
storytellers included Lamont B. Steptoe, Nancy Springer, Chet Williamson, Karen Blomain, Gil Ott, Jean Karl, Peter Stitt, Stephen DeForest Day, Randall Silver, Michael Young, Steve Herb, Nancy Martin, Craig Czury, James Morrow, Terry Wallace, Alvin K. Polk, David R. Johnson, and Richard Ammon.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Under the aegis of the YLR logo, with the slogan "Give Us Books, Give Us Wings," the South Dakota State Library and the South Dakota Library Association sponsored "My South Dakota Moment of Reading," in which South Dakota readers were asked to note what they were reading, and the circumstances, on South Dakota Reader's Day, April 17, 1991.
TEXAS
The Houston Public Library annual report for 1991 carried on its cover a reproduction of a photograph taken by one of the Library's patrons, Connie Thompson. The photograph was the Grand Prize winner in the YLR national photo contest, sponsored by the Center for the Book and the American Library Association and funded by World Book, Inc.
UTAH
On February 7, 1991, the Deseret News of Salt Lake City celebrated the YLR by announcing a plan to issue certificates of recognition to honor the most effective activities in promoting reading, whether undertaken in classrooms or libraries, by parent-teacher groups, families, read-along groups, churches, bookstores, or volunteer, literary and service groups. Holy Cross Hospital and the Salt Lake City Library received the first certificate for their program of providing each new mother at the hospital with a free package of information outlining steps for successfully raising children as readers.
WISCONSIN
The winter 1990 issue of the Wisconsin Clubwoman, the newsletter of the Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs, announced the partnership of the General Federation of Women's Clubs with the Library of Congress in promoting the YLR. The Wisconsin Center for the Book sent brochures suggesting YLR themes to all public libraries, library systems, and book/reading related organizations in the state. On April 12, 1991, Governor Tommy Thompson proclaimed 1991 as the YLR, and Wisconsin First Lady Sue Ann Thompson held a reception at the executive mansion, organized by the Wisconsin Center for the Book, to celebrate the event.
17
Schools across the country and (where they served Department of Defense dependents) around the world sponsored special events or implemented special programs in celebration of the YLR. A representative sampling follows, drawn principally from the International Reading Association's Reading Today (Vol. 9, Nos. 1 and 3), which carried detailed coverage of these activities.
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA
Ninety-four students of grades 4 through 6 at the Department of Defense Dependents' School (DoDDS) raised $5,000 in pledges during a four-hour Reading Lock-In, the money raised to be used to start an education fund for the children of a Marine killed in a minefield accident. Students and community members joined in a Pull the Plug and Read program, during which they limited their television viewing to one hour during a designated week and filled the remaining time with educational activities involving reading.
A community read-aloud program mobilized adults to read to elderly people and school-age children.
MICHIGAN
Students at the Highmeadow Common Campus in Farmington Hills solicited money from sponsors for each page read during a readathon lasting one to three hours, donating the money collected to a community outreach project.
MINNESOTA
Teachers at the Pine Island Elementary School read aloud to their classes daily, taking their students on a "book journey" in which they counted each book read as one mile, using a large wall map to chart the classes' combined travel totals at the end of each month and "covering" 4,500 miles in a year.
MISSOURI
Linden West Elementary School in Gladstone celebrated the completion of its new library in the YLR by hosting monthly Family Nights, for which students and their families were invited to the school library to read and check out up to five books together, to be returned at the next Family Night; free bookmarks and reading suggestions accompanied each set of books checked out. Student interest in the slogans created by students during Annual T-shirt Day at the Mark Twain School in St. Joseph, brought the full range of reading, writing, and literacy into the classroom.
NEW JERSEY
Hackensack School District produced a video discussion program on the YLR and six public service announcements involving adult readers. Sandyston-Walpack School District in Layton, with the support of the Board of Education and
18
the superintendent of schools, distributed forms to all school families and other households, asking them to pledge to put aside one evening a week for reading. The Union School in Rutherford held a monthly Reading Recital Day for grade 1 and 2 readers, during which they read, recited, and sang to older students; and older students attended a monthly Book Talk Luncheon. The Doyle School in Wood Ridge held its first R.E.A.D. (Reading Excitement at Doyle) Day, during which classrooms received visits from such celebrity guest readers as the mayor, the police and fire chiefs, and the superintendent of schools; the day even included some D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) time.
NEW YORK
A principal in the Bemus Point School District developed the Principal's Reading Club described as follows: students through grade 2 made appointments to read to the principal for 15 minutes from a book of their choice; students in grades 3 through 6 selected a book from a provided list and, after three weeks, retured to the principal's office to discuss it. Every participant received a certificate, a button, and a pencil marked, "I Read to the Principal."
PENNSYLVANIA
The Blessed Sacrament School in Erie brought the entire school together in a Create-a-Story project to promote reading and writing: teachers provided a title and all classes contributed, with the last one contributing the conclusion; each student received a printed copy of the completed story in commemoration. The Phoenixville Area School District celebrated the YLR by inviting parents to come to school and read to children in the classroom, and over 90 parents volunteered. Through an annual Book Swap 'n' Shop program, students in Phoenixville District exchanged over 3,000 used books under the cooperative guidance of parents and teachers. Two students of the Pittston Area School District wrote a song entitled "Books Travel Through the Ages," to celebrate the YLR.
RHODE ISLAND
The Maisie E. Quinn Elementary School organized a Read to Me, Talk to Me program, in which more than 30 sets of children and parents attended workshops to leam how to share family- and school-related tasks.
TEXAS
Two schools in the Aldine School District of Houston developed lifetime readers through shared reading sessions linking middle school students with children in an adjacent elementary school; twice a month approximately two hundred grade 7 and 8 students from the former selected and
shared children's books with students at the latter.
VIRGINIA
The Reservoir Middle School in Newport News developed the Matchbook Club to encourage students to join paperback book clubs and spend their money on reading materials. The PTA then donated new young adult books to classroom libraries in proportion to the number of books bought by students.
19
WISCONSIN
The Mt. Horeb Area School District designed a home-centered summer reading program to combat the decline in reading skills that occurs over the summer months; participating students received a coupon good for a free hamburger and drink if they read for a designated period of time, proportional to their grade level.
20
- The Summer 1990 issue of Know, the Encyclopaedia Britannica (EB) house magazine, carried an article called "The Year of the Lifetime Reader: Britannica Supports the Center for the Book." The article described EB's hosting of a boat cruise on Lake Michigan as a demonstration of its continuing support for the Center for the Book and the YLR and announced an EB contribution to the Center for the Book's budget.
- The January 15, 1991, issue of Book Links, published by the American Library Association (ALA), carried an editorial endorsing the YLR, a reproduction of the ALA's YLR poster, a YLR bibliography appealing to children pre-school through age 14, as well as 20 "ideas to encourage lifetime readers" drawn from the campaign brochure.
1. Designate a special time in the day to "drop everything
and read."
2. Invite local authors to speak about their books.
3. Make a "Reading Rainbow"-style video of students
talking about their favorite books or authors.
4. Have book-collecting contests around favorite
themes.
5. Encourage personal recommendations of books
worth reading and develop bulletin-board displays of
titles with child-illustrated book jackets.
6. Establish a read-aloud comer; let children plan their
own rules of operation.
7. Plan a "come-as-your-favorite-character" day.
8. Give awards for reading achievement. (Suggestion for the award: a paperback book, perhaps supplied
by local merchants or organizations.)
9. Establish a book-discussion group.
10. Publicize and distribute lists of recommended books
for readers of all ages.
11. Organize writing contests-for poems, stories, or
descriptions of favorite books.
12. Create mock television and radio shows to encourage
reading.
13. Hold a read-a-thon or read-in, with children doing
the organizing.
14. Read books, magazines, and newspapers aloud to
each other.
15. Have students suggest their favorite books to be
included in a home library.
16. Have children plan a campaign to get others to sign
up for library cards.
17. Take a field trip to a local literary landmark.
18. Plan class visits to a nearby library or bookstore.
19. Have children write and illustrate their own books,
perhaps working in pairs.
20. Invite older students to the classroom or library to
talk about favorite books or to tell favorite stories.
21
- The January 7, 1991, issue of Library Hotline, a newsletter for late-breaking library news, carried as its opening item an announcement welcoming the YLR and listing representative sponsors and partners. Library Hotline is distributed by Bowker Magazine Group, publishers of Library Journal.
- In January 1991, R. R. Bowker announced its first annual I READ ... I DREAM! contest, in celebration of the YLR, allowing a February 1991 deadline for the submission of entries. The contest was designed to encourage students in grades 3 through 8 to read "for information and for fun," and to promote the library as a place "where there's lots to lear and lots to enjoy." Prizes went to 18 national winners and to the librarians through whom the winners submitted their entries.
- The April 1991 issue of The Costco Connection, a periodical issued by the Costco chain of buying clubs with a readership of over one million, carried a full-page article on the YLR and the Center for the Book, featuring the YLR logo.
- The May 1991 issue of Science Books & Films, a monthly publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, carried as a lead article a special YLR bibliography of science books that interest people of every age, from childhood on.
- The International Reading Association's quarterly Bulletin and bimonthly Reading Today carried announcements and descriptive material about the YLR throughout 1991.
- The January 1991 issue of Young Children, a periodical of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, carried an article on the YLR.
- As part of its 1991 YLR program, the New Jersey Connection arranged for the printing of a collection of essays by New Jersey students, entitled Writing about Reading.
- The January 1991 issue of NJEA Review, organ of the New Jersey Educational Association, carried an article on the YLR. A photograph used to illustrate the article won the 1992 Educational Press Association of America's Distinguished Achievement Award for educational photography.
- The November-December 1990 issue of Single Parent, a bimonthly of Parents Without Partners, Inc., carried the YLR logo and a related article.
- The December 7, 1990, issue of Publishers Weekly used the YLR logo to embellish its announcement of the impending Second Annual LMP Awards, honoring the work of talented men and women in the book publishing industry.
24
- The August 1990 issue of A.L.L. Points Bulletin, a bimonthly of the U.S. Department of Education's Division of Adult Education and Literacy, reported the invitation extended by the Library of Congress to the State Directors of Adult Education at their annual conference in July, to join in marking 1991 as the YLR. The February 1991 issue carried a descriptive item on the YLR, drawing on the campaign brochure, mentioning the Department's involvement as a partner, and referring readers interested in additional information to the Center for the Book.
25
- The American Library Association issued a YLR poster. This beautiful image (see page 20) was designed by Jerry Pinkney and celebrates intergenerational reading. Also available from its Graphics Division were YLR bookmarks reproducing the poster in reduced form.
- American Mensa, Ltd. stamped its envelopes with a reproduction of the YLR logo.
- In September, the American Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation's "Newspaper-in-Education supplement," distributed to member newspapers, carried the YLR logo in a prominent position on the last page.
- Baker & Taylor's Book Alert for June 1991 carried the YLR logo at the head of a column, "After All These Years," which notes books of lasting value.
- The Bowker Group's weekly Library Hotline for December 9, 1991, carried stories on the November 20-21 conference organized by the Center for the Book and the American Library Association on "Developing the Lifetime Reader Habit"; and on the Jones Entertainment Group, NBC, and the Center for the Book's collaboration on the National Story Lady Project: both developments within the framework of the YLR.
- The Spring 1991 issue of the Catholic University of America's Parents' Network carried an article by University president William J. Byron, S.J., endorsing the YLR and reflecting on the importance of reading.
- The December 1990 issue of The Correctional Educational Joural carried a full-page article on the YLR, drawn from the YLR brochure.
- Gannett Outdoors, a member of the New Jersey Connection coalition, put up billboards in many sites publicizing the YLR. King's Supermarkets, another coalition member printed a poster publicizing the New Jersey 1991 Enthusiastic Readers Awards.
- The Fall 1990 issue of the Lutheran Church Libraries Association newsletter LCLA Chapter Open Mike carried an announcement of the YLR. The spring 1991 issue of the Association's journal Lutheran Libraries carried an announcement of the YLR and excerpts from the YLR brochure.
- The September 1991 issue of Michigan 4-H Today announced the YLR and urged readers to draw on excerpts it printed from the YLR brochure in motivating 4-H club members to read.
- NBC issued a poster guide in late 1991 promoting a holiday special, "The Story Lady," and setting the program in a
26
frame of reference of lifetime reading and the effort to promote reading reflected in the YLR campaign.
- The Fall/Winter 1990 issue of Partnership Exchange, the National Partners for Libraries and Literacy newsletter, carried a large reproduction of the YLR logo.
- The Peaceable Kingdom Press, of Berkeley, California, published a poster by James Marshall that featured the theme: "1991-The Year of the Lifetime Reader."
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services used the "Books Give Us Wings" logo on the title page of its brochure, "Promoting Family Literacy Through Head Start."
- During the last week in May, the U. S. Postal Service, a partner of the Library of Congress in supporting the YLR, displayed in 40,000 post offices a poster of a new commemorative stamp honoring William Saroyan that invited the public to celebrate the YLR.
- By the end of the YLR, the Center for the Book and Pizza Hut's BOOK IT! program had distributed a total of 50,000 YLR brochures. Recipients included the 25 state and regional Centers for the Book, the 109 campaign partners of the Library of Congress, bookshops, libraries, newspapers, penal institutions, publishing houses, schools, YMCA's, and local social and civic associations across the country.
27
An unprecedented number of national associations and advocacy groups committed to promoting literacy and reading joined with the Library of Congress as partners in supporting the campaign (see list, p. 28). A selective listing of their YLR activities follows:
AFL-CIO. The Education Department of the AFL-CIO made a financial contribution to the campaign and was active in bringing the campaign to the attention of unions with a particular interest in the issue of workplace literacy. The American Postal Workers Union (APWU), the Food and Beverage Workers Union, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, all AFL-CIO affiliates, and a representative of the New York State AFL-CIO office requested campaign material from the Center for the Book. The APWU was a campaign partner.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA). AKA distributed 725 brochures and 850 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its chapters. AKA related the YLR theme to its Ivy AKAdemy program, which reached 15,000 children in a comprehensive educational, training, and development program. Chapters across the country held book fairs for seniors at senior citizens centers, for children and adults at the sorority house and at community centers, readathons (including specialized versions focusing on Black History, Health Care, Father's Day, Mother's Day, and Black Business), and Read-To-Me programs. Students were asked to sign pledges to read at least one book a month. Members of some chapters read to second-grade children on a weekly basis. In an Alpha Kappa Alpha Reader-of-the-Month program, students were asked to read and report on a monthly basis, with prizes awarded to the child who reads the most each month. Newspaper coverage of the involvement of AKA chapters in the YLR ranged from Maryland to Mississippi, and from Indiana to Florida.
Altrusa International Foundation, Inc. The Altrusa Foundation promoted the YLR campaign in its newsletter The Lamplighter, illustrating the article with the campaign logo. (The Lamplighter goes to some 650 persons, including members of the Altrusa International Association board, members of the Foundation board, and presidents of local clubs in the United States and Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Eire, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, and Mexico.) The Foundation also distributed 20 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its members.
American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). The AAACE distributed 1,500 YLR brochures
28
to its members. Its subdivision, the Commission on Adult Basic Education, carried the YLR logo on the inside of the front cover of the program of its national conference, held in Hartford, Connecticut, April 9-13, 1991.
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). To inaugurate the AAAS's involvement as a partner, its review journal, Science Books & Films, compiled and carried in its May 1991 issue a bibliography of recommended science books for readers of all ages.
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
The AARP distributed 2,000 YLR brochures and 15 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its members. (Also see American Library Association entry, below.)
American Booksellers Association (ABA). The ABA distributed 25 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
American Council on Education (ACE). The ACE library used the YLR logo in the heading of its monthly "new acquisitions" list, distributed to some 30 higher education associations and posted prominently in the public areas of a building where 1,200 people work. The ACE also distributed 15 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
American GI Forum of the United States. The Forum's January 1991 newsletter, Forumer, announced the organization's participation in the YLR. "Through our membership," pointed out the article, which was illustrated with the campaign logo, "we will be able to reach thousands of individuals ... that need help with learning how to read." The Forum distributed 12 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
American Library Association (ALA). In honor of the YLR the ALA cosponsored with the Center for the Book a nationwide photo contest on the theme of intergenerational reading. The ALA's Graphics Division designed and offered for sale a YLR poster promoting intergenerational reading, YLR bookmarks and magnets. The position paper that the ALA submitted to the White House Conference on Library and Information Services, July 19-23, 1991, included excerpts from letters of endorsement and support from the AARP, the Children's Defense Fund, the Child Welfare League of America, the Council for Early Childhood Professional Development, the National Council of La Raza (all partners in the YLR), and the Association for Childhood Education Interational, endorsing the campaign. (See also Children's Book Council, below.) The ALA distributed 10 U.S. Postal Service posters.
American Mensa, Ltd. Mensa distributed 200 YLR brochures and 20 U.S. Postal Service posters to its members. It produced bookplates bearing the YLR campaign logo, for use in books donated by Mensa's local groups to libraries and to children of families unable to afford to buy books. The YLR theme stimulated a Mensa group in eastern Ohio to mount a program to help stock local libraries. Mensa also placed information on the YLR and the Center for the Book on the CompuServe computer network, available to over one million users.
American Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation (ANPA). The November/December 1990 issue of the
29
ANPA Foundation Educational Services newsletter, Update, announced the designation of 1991 as the YLR. The association's Newspaper-in-Education supplement, adapted and issued by many of ANPA's 1,300 member newspapers across the country, carried the YLR logo on the back cover and urged readers to contact the Center for the Book for more information. The foundation distributed 10 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
Association of American Publishers (AAP). The AAP made a financial contribution to the campaign and distributed 10 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
Association of Booksellers to Children. The association distributed 1,000 YLR brochures and 500 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its members.
American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO (APWU).
The union brought the YLR forcefully to the attention of its members. The November 1990 issue of the APWU's American Postal Worker, which reaches 400,000 readers, announced the kick-off of the YLR photo contest. A follow-up letter in December, from the Union's president and secretary-treasurer to state and local presidents, drew their attention to the article, enclosed application forms and a poster guide about the contest, and urged participation by union members and their families. The February 1991 issue of American Postal Worker carried an article by Secretary Treasurer Douglas Holbrook announcing the APWU's five winners in its own YLR photo contest. The APWU entered its grand prize winner in the nationwide competition sponsored by the American Library Association. The article also described how "Each and every APWU member and their family members" could celebrate the YLR.
Baltimore City Literacy Corporation. The corporation distributed 30 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters. As Baltimore Reads, Inc.-the action arm of the corporation-moved through the year in partnership with the Library of Congress, it related all its work to a celebration of lifelong learning. The YLR theme provided opportunities for expanding on the theme through public messages designed to recruit new readers and volunteers to learning programs, and through messages to encourage educational achievements by students at all levels. Baltimore Reads, Inc. also promoted the use of the theme among city agencies. The YLR and the importance of lifelong learning will continue as part of the promotional message of Baltimore Reads, Inc.
Business Council for Effective Literacy. The Council's Newsletter for April 1991 carried a half-page reproduction of the ALA's YLR poster.
Cartoonists Across America (CAA). CAA President Phil Yeh presented a comic book, Patrick Rabbit!, featuring an introduction by First Lady Barbara Bush and the YLR logo on the front cover. CAA also continued their planned 15-year tour throughout America (1986-2000) promoting literacy. The tour mentioned the YLR campaign in press releases sent out to the media across the nation. On September 10, 1991, CAA's Phil Yeh, Richard Dinges, and R.C. Williams made a presentation about their work at the National Archives. This event was followed by a booksigning for Phil Yeh's 35th published book, Theo the Dinosaur, featuring a foreword by First Lady Barbara Bush and an introduction by Nigel Seale, Chairperson of Earth Day International. John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book, joined the artists at the Archives and spoke on the YLR campaign
30
and CAA's participation in it. Two days later, on September 12, CAA held-as an official YLR event, supported by the Center for the Book-the "first Celebrity Sports Auction for Literacy," at the Old Post Office Pavilion, in Washington, DC. CAA president Phil Yeh presented a comic book Read. Exercise Your Mind! starring Patrick Rabbit, with an introduction by First Lady Barbara Bush, which, once again, incorporated the YLR logo in the design of the front cover. Athletes and celebrities contributing items to the auction (many of them autographed books by, or about, the contributors) included Mickey Mantle, Muhammad Ali, George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Arnold Palmer, Bo Jackson, Johnny Bench, Debi Thomas, Mario Andretti, Randall Cunningham, Cal Ripken, Jr., Herschel Walker, Joe Frazier, Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Paul Newman, Bill Bradley, Joe Garagiola, George Will, Roger Kahn, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Gordie Howe, Dudley Moore, Larry King, and Elle Macpherson. ABC Sports, C&P Phone Company, Chevron, IBM, M&M Mars, Mitsubishi, Thomas Lipton Company, and WMAL cosponsored the event.
Chautauqua Institution. The March 1991 issue of the Chautauqua Network News announced that the Chautauqua Institution and Chautauqua Northwest were both participants in the YLR, described the goals of the campaign, and referred readers to the Center for the Book for additional information. The Institution distributed three U.S. Postal Service YLR posters. Both the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, founded in 1878, and the Smith Memorial Library at Chautauqua displayed posters and distributed materials on the YLR campaign to numerous Chautauqua visitors.
Chautauqua Northwest. Chautauqua Northwest distributed six U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
31
Child Welfare League of America, Inc. See American Library Association entry, above.
Children's Book Council. Jointly with the American Library Association and in celebration of the YLR, the CBC held a "Children's Book Bridges" Competition to promote knowledge of existing outstanding library reading encouragement projects that could be easily replicated in other communities.
Children's Defense Fund. See American Library Association entry, above.
Congress of National Black Churches (CNBC). Fifteen affiliated churches, in Atlanta, Georgia, and Oakland, California, drew on the YLR theme in after-school programs for 6 to 12 year-olds. CNBC distributed 100 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters, for distribution to member churches.
Correctional Education Association (CEA). The December 1990 issue of The Journal of Correctional Education, with a circulation of over 3,000, carried a full page article on the YLR. The CEA took delivery of 45 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition. In the March 1991 issue of its newsletter Competence, the council announced the YLR, coupled with a column on "Reading Tips for Young Children." (Also see American Library Association entry, above.)
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Delta Sigma Theta distributed 500 YLR brochures and 820 U.S. Postal Service posters to its members.
Friends of Libraries U.S.A. (FOLUSA). FOLUSA distributed 1,600 YLR brochures to affiliates across the country and provided information on the YLR in several issues of its Idea Bank newsletter, which carried the "Books Give Us Wings" campaign logo. On September 13, 1991, FOLUSA and the Center for the Book, with the intention of developing a "Lifetime Reader" game based on the results, distributed a ballot at the "New York Is Book Country" book fair in New York City, asking participants to vote for not more than three authors in a "Lifetime Reader 'Classics' Favorite Author Poll. Popular authors included Willa Cather, P.D. James, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John McPhee, Jan Morris, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Eudora Welty, P.G. Wodehouse, and Thomas Wolfe.
General Federation of Women's Clubs International (GFWC). In April 1990, in preparation for the YLR, the GFWC listed the Center for the Book as a "resource" in its 199092, Continuing Education Division program guide, with an explanation to members on how to obtain YLR brochures and information about the Center for the Book (the guide goes to 8,500 member clubs in the United States). The Education Division also distributed YLR information to the 150 participants at its workshop on June 8, 1991. The October-November 1990 issue of GFWC Clubwomen carried the YLR campaign logo on the inside of the front cover and announced GFWC's participation in the YLR campaign and urged local chapters to "get your membership involved" in a YLR project. A GFWC Education Department bulletin of November alerted members to the need
32
to start thinking about ways of promoting the YLR campaign in 1991. The December 1990 issue of The Pennsylvania Clubwomen described the YLR campaign and drew on the campaign brochure to recommend ideas for activities that the Pennsylvania Federation of Women's Clubs could implement. The federation chairman urged the Governor of Pennsylvania to proclaim 1991 the "Year of the Lifetime Reader," which he did. During the campaign, GFWC distributed 250 YLR brochures and 80 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its members and, within the framework of the campaign, presented The Library of America's edition of the Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson to a member of the Virginia Federation of Women's Clubs, in honor of her outstanding reading program.
Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. The Girl Scouts sent a notice to all 333 Girl Scout Councils informing them the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. was a partner of the Library of Congress in the YLR. The note drew on the campaign brochure for ideas about council programs, included a list of the other partners, and suggested that councils consider making contact with any local affiliates. The GSUSA News, circulated to nearly 9,000 council executive staff and key volunteers, contained an article on the YLR. Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.'s national service project for 1991, "Right to Read," involved Girl Scouts at all levels in community service projects related to literacy.
Home and School Institute. In promoting lifetime learning through its MegaSkills Leader Training programs-now under way in 39 states and reaching over 30,000 families-the Institute made repeated references to its involvement as a partner in the YLR.
International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Throughout the YLR, the IABC Literacy Task Force provided its 11,500 members, who form 123 chapters in 40 countries, with information on Center for the Book literacy and reading promotional activities. More than 40 IABC chapters have undertaken literacy efforts in the last three years, ranging from fundraising for literacy service providers through tutor recruitment campaigns, and strategic planning for reading-related organizations, to designing publications, events, and multi-media to promote the building of reading and workplace literacy skills. These activities were described at the annual meeting of the IABC Literacy Committee, held at the Library of Congress on June 12, 1991. The IABC distributed 12 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to members.
International Reading Association (IRA). The Spring 1991 issue of the Association's newsletter, The Bulletin, urged Association members to celebrate the YLR. The IRA took distributed 25 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters. The bimonthly Reading Today for August/September 1991 and December 1991/January 1992 carried detailed accounts of YLR activities in schools. The February/March 1992 issue featured the winning photographs in the American Library Association's YLR photo contest.
KIDSNET. KIDSNET had the YLR logo printed on the brochures publicizing its media literacy campaign, "TV with Books Completes the Picture," launched in July 1990.
Laubach Literacy Action. Laubach distributed 1000 YLR brochures to local member groups in its 1991-92 Literacy Promotion Kit entitled, "Learing To Read Is Not Just For Kids."
33
Leo Clubs. In its newsletter, Focus, this young people's affiliate of Lions Clubs International drew the attention of the 4,500 Leo Clubs around the world to the YLR and offered suggestions from the campaign brochure on how individual clubs could participate in the campaign. In mid-1991, Leo Clubs took delivery of 25 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
The Library of America. The Library offered its other partners in the campaign, including the Center for the Book, 100 copies of its volume of the writings of Thomas Jefferson, to be presented as awards for significant contributions to the effectiveness of the YLR.
The Links, Inc. The Links distributed YLR brochures to each of its 245 chapters. It also distributed 255 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters. Beginning with the January 1991 issue, Link to Link, the president's quarterly newsletter, regularly kept the 8,800 members informed of developments in its partnership with the Library of Congress, emphasizing the relationship between literacy, resistance to drug abuse, and the building of self-esteem. Links, Inc. chapters across the country became involved. For example, the Peachtree Suburban Links Services to Youth Committee, of Atlanta, Georgia, sponsored a reading program for youth, with a kick off reception and formal recognition, with cash prizes, for participants who excelled.
Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA). The Spring 1991 issue of the LVA's newsletter, The Reader, announced the YLR and referred those interested to their state Center for the Book or to a number at the LVA head office. LVA sponsored a coastto-coast walk for literacy that concluded at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (see, above, National Events). It distributed 25 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
Lutheran Church Library Association (LCLA). The Spring 1991 issue of the LCLA journal, Lutheran Libraries, which reaches some 1,500 people, carried an announcement of the YLR, with a summary of the statement of purpose and the suggestions from the brochure. The association also had YLR brochures available, along with other promotional material, for members attending its annual national conference, held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in August 1991. Answering individual requests, the Center for the Book sent brochures and other promotional material on the YLR to 30 Lutheran churches around the country.
Modem Language Association of America. The program for the Association's 107th convention, held in December 1991, carried a dedication to the "Year of the Lifetime Reader, Library of Congress/Center for the Book."
National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE). The Alliance distributed 3,000 YLR brochures to its members along with the Spring 1990 issue of its newletter. It used the YLR logo on the front page of three successive issues of its bimonthly newsletter in late 1990, creating interest by progressively enlarging the accompanying explanatory text. Notices identifying 1991 as the YLR-with reproductions of the "Books Give Us Wings" logo-appeared in several of the 1991 editions of the newsletter. NABSE also distributed 600 of the U.S. Postal Service's YLR poster to its members.
36
National Alliance of Business (NAB). The February 1991 issue of the Alliance newsletter, Work America, announced NAB's participation in the YLR, provided information about and suggestions on celebrating lifetime reading, and referred readers to the Center for the Book for additional details.
National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC). The Association distributed 1,100 brochures and 12 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to members.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The January 1991 issue of the Association's joural, Young Children-with a circulation of 80,000-devoted significant space to the YLR, posing the question, "Have you explored opportunities for bringing young children and books together?"
National Association of Secondary School Principals. The Association distributed 75 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its state affiliates, to use in state newsletters and other media.
National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI). Two issues during 1991 of NBCDI's quarterly newsletter The Black Child Advocate-which has a circulation of 5,000carried the YLR campaign logo, with the slogan "Books Give Us Wings." On April 24-25, 1991, NBCDI-St. Louis and the African-American History and Culture Committee and the Children's Center Advisory Board at the St. Louis Children's Center, cosponsored as a YLR event a Children's Center Book Bazaar, which urged the public to "Come Buy A Book To Donate To The Grand Opening Of The Children's Center Library." The program for the two R.E.D. (Reading Emphasizes Development) Days that the bazaar held carried the YLR logo. NBCDI-St. Louis also issued, as a YLR publication, a booklet entitled Celebrating Reading which urged its readers to "celebrate 1991 the Year of the Lifetime Reader by encouraging your child or the children of your organization to read!"
National Center for Family Literacy. The center distributed 100 YLR brochures and 12 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
National Council of La Raza. See American Library Association entry, above.
National Council of State Directors of Adult Education. The Council sent YLR campaign brochures and supporting material to the 55 state, commonwealth and territorial directors of adult education. It also distributed 400 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to members.
National Council on the Aging (NCOA). The February 15, 1991, issue of NCOA's bimonthly newsletter Networks informed its readers that the council was supporting the YLR and provided information on, and suggestions on celebrating, the campaign. The NCOA distributed over 700 YLR brochures to its membership.
National Education Association (NEA). A weekly newsletter for NEA leaders, NEA NOW, dated September 17, 1990, announced to its readers the YLR campaign planned for 1991.
National Federation of Press Women. The Federation developed a national literacy program explicitly related to the
37
YLR under the umbrella title, "For A Good Life, Reading is Forever Essential." Federation members, enlisting the help of community members (libraries, literacy councils, schools, newspapers, and new readers) and supported by a grant from the Coors Foundation for Family Literacy, hosted Family Literacy Days in the following 15 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Kentucky, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. The theme of each day was, "Newspaper: The Key to Reading and Living Better." The federation distributed 25 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to members.
National Governors Association. The Association distributed 55 YLR brochures to state, commonwealth, and territorial governors.
National Home Study Council. The Council publicized the YLR in its bulletin, the circulation of which includes the council's 100 member schools in the United States and abroad; each of these schools also received a YLR brochure and a U.S. Postal Service poster. The article encouraged each corresponding school to bring the campaign to the attention of its students. In this way the Council and its corresponding schools brought the YLR message to the attention of an estimated 1,000,000 students in the United States alone.
National Partners for Libraries and Literacy. The Fall/ Winter 1990 issue of its newsletter, Partnership Exchange, carried a large reproduction of the YLR logo and a descriptive article on the YLR.
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The Association announced its participation in the YLR by describing the campaign in a front-page article (decorated with the campaign logo) of the Spring 1991 issue of its quarterly newsletter Newsline, which reaches 1,000 rural electric cooperatives nationwide. The National Rural Electric Women's Association has 4,000 members who volunteer in their communities to enhance the efforts of the cooperatives in improving the quality of life in rural America. Included among their literacy projects are efforts in North Carolina and Louisiana to improve the reading skills of electric linemen to qualify them for handling the more sophisticated computerized equipment that is being introduced.
New Jersey Connection. The Connection issued a brochure-for distribution by its partners throughout the state-explaining the YLR and listing ways in which individuals and organizations might help make it effective. It established an Enthusiastic Reader Award, presenting certificates of recognition and U.S. Savings Bonds (these latter provided by Pepsi-Cola East) to nine K-12 students recommended by their school districts for demonstrated enthusiasm for reading during the YLR. It organized book drives to collect children's books from homes where they are no longer needed for distribution to children without books. It issued a student-designed booklet of "A Book of New Jersey Students' Writings About Reading," using as the preface a letter from first Lady Lucinda Florio congratulating the young authors. Public Service Electric & Gas Company printed it, and United Jersey Bank distributed it to every school media center and public library in New Jersey; these firms were only two of many "corporate partners in reading" of the Connection.
38
Another, Gannett Outdoors, displayed billboards throughout the state highlighting the YLR and the New Jersey Connection. A third, Kings Supermarkets, printed 5,000 copies of the Connection's 1991 Enthusiastic Reader Awards poster, on which First Lady Lucinda Florio appeared. On April 24, Lawyers for Literacy and the Connection organized a readathon on environmental concerns, held at the Hackensack Court House. In mid-1991, another member of the New Jersey Connection coalition, Riverview Cable Vision, in conjunction with H.B.O., carried public service announcements encouraging reading; and on November 13, National Young Reader's Day, organized a readathon at a mall involving the municipalities in their viewing area and over 20 different schools. In recognition of their contribution to the success of the YLR campaign in New Jersey, three corporate partners-Kings Supermarkets, PSE&G, and Sandoz Corporation-each received a copy of The Library of America's volume of the Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson. The Connection distributed 10 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters. Its 1991 stationery incorporated the YLR campaign logo in the letterhead.
New York Is Book Country, Inc. In celebration of the YLR, New York Is Book Country held a free hourly "Start Your Lifetime Library at the NYIBC" drawing for those attending its annual book fair, which was held on Fifth Avenue, in New York City on September 15, 1991. Winners received a selection of 26 children's books.
Parents Without Partners, Inc. (PWP). In an October 1990 mailing, PWP informed its members of its participation in the YLR and included lengthy extracts from the campaign brochure. The November-December 1990 issue of the PWP bimonthly, Single Parent, carried the YLR logo, gave details on the YLR photo contest, and announced that Parents Without Partners and the Library of Congress had formed a "partnership for tomorrow." It also described a program using the YLR theme and developed jointly by PWP and the Home and School Institute to encourage children to read. In the fall, PWP announced to its 650 chapters in the United States, Canada, and overseas, a one-time YLR award-to be made in 1992-of a special certificate for the chapter that had developed the most effective program to encourage lifetime reading.
Phi Beta Kappa Society. The Society announced, in the Winter 1990 issue of is newletter, The Key Reporter, that it was participating in the YLR and invited its affiliated chapters and associations to use the theme in programs celebrating literacy and reading. The society distributed 100 brochures to its affiliates.
Phi Delta Kappa. Phi Delta Kappa distributed 300 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its members.
Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF). RIF distributed 65 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters. It celebrated its 25th anniversary and its partnership with the Library of Congress in support of the YLR by holding a children's book party at the Library of Congress on October 17, 1991.
SER-Jobs For Progress. SER distributed 55 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its members.
Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation (SNPA). The Association announced the impending YLR
39
campaign in its newsletter of August 29, 1990. In March 1991, SNPA mailed an advertisement relating the YLR to newspaper reading and a list of eight "Ideas to Promote Year of the Lifetime Readers" to each of its 425 member newspapers. The eight ideas were:
- adopting the YLR as a year-long theme and using the campaign logo on mailings, fliers, brochures, and other publications
- sponsoring a "Catch Someone Reading" photography contest and a display of the resulting photographs and/or running the best photograph each month as a feature
- starting lunch hour book discussion groups and providing a place where employees can meet over a
brown bag lunch
- writing a story on the people who attend community education classes
- writing a feature series surveying community leaders on their favorite book
- arranging for community leaders, including member newspapers' publishers and editors, to visit schools
to discuss their favorite book
- circulating a pledge, to be signed by employees, students, or organization members, that they will read a book each month and honoring those who have read the most books at the end of the year with a gift certificate for a new book
- promoting lifelong learning and reading whenever possible.
U.S. Department of Agriculture 4-H Youth Programs Extension Service. The Extension Service distributed 30 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to selected state 4-H youth programs. In September 1991, the Michigan State University 4-H Youth Programs periodical, Michigan 4-H Today, urged its members to draw on suggestions excerpted from the YLR brochure in promoting reading in their 4-H clubs.
U.S. Department of Education. With the silver anniversary of the passage of the Adult Education Act coinciding with the YLR, the Department of Education and the Center for the Book decided on jointly sponsoring, as a YLR national event, a reception at the Library of Congress celebrating the silver anniversary. Assistant Secretary of Education Betsy Brand was the principal speaker, and one of the high points was the presentation of the song, "A Celebration of Lifelong Reading," original music and lyrics by Margie Alfonso of Tulsa, Oklahoma, sung by Meg Alfonso, her daughter. The Department of Education provided publicity on the YLR in its A.L.L. [Adult Learning and Literacy] Points Bulletin.
U.S. Department of Labor. On November 1, 1990, the Employment and Training Administration sent out 700 YLR brochures to its employment and training field offices across the country.
U.S. Information Agency. The USIA distributed 150 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters to its libraries overseas.
U.S. Postal Service. For a week in May 1991, the Postal Service displayed, in approximately 40,000 post offices across the country, a poster publicizing a new William Saroyan commem-
40
orative stamp, along with earlier U.S. stamps honoring American authors, and urging the public to celebrate the YLR. The Center for the Book acquired 7,500 copies, for distribution to the other campaign partners, state and regional centers for the book, and other appropriate recipients.
United Way of America. United Way distributed YLR brochures to 450 United Way chapters with active literacy programs. It also distributed 100 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters.
Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW). The organization distributed 10 U.S. Postal Service YLR posters for use in its literacy programs.
Women's National Book Association (WNBA). In a summer 1991 "Update on National News," to all national and chapter offices, the WNBA announced it had joined "105 other organizations" to celebrate the YLR and urged chapters to relate their literacy and reading programs to the campaign theme.
41
Beginning in late 1990 and extending throughout 1991, the Center for the Book received requests from hundreds of individuals and thousands of institutions for information and promotional material about the YLR. The Center responded to appeals from all 50 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands; and from individuals and institutions in 12 foreign countries (Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, and Venezuela).
The Center answered approximately 2,700 requests for information about the YLR. These requests came from over 1,100 elementary and secondary schools (including 26 Department of Defense Dependents' Schools, in the United States and overseas, in Bolivia, Germany, Japan, Korea, Panama, and the Philippines); over 150 institutions of higher learning (junior colleges, technical colleges, colleges, and universities); nearly 600 public libraries; 15 U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine installations in the continental United States and Hawaii; three state departments of corrections; five correctional facilities; and over 450 individuals.
42
PARTNERS OF THE LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS IN THE YEAR OF
THE LIFETIME READER
AFL-CIO
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated
Altrusa International Foundation, Inc.
American Association for Adult and Continuing Education
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association of Retired Persons
American Bar Association
American Booksellers Association
American Council on Education
American GI Forum of the United States
American Hotel and Motel Association
American Library Association
American Mensa, Ltd.
American Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation
American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO
Association of American Publishers
Association of American University Presses
Association of Booksellers for Children Baltimore City Literacy Corporation
Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
B'nai B'rith
Business Council for Effective Literacy
Cartoonists Across America
Center for Applied Linguistics
Chautauqua Institution
Chautauqua Northwest
Child Welfare League of America, Inc.
Children's Book Council
Children's Defense Fund
Christian Booksellers Association
Congress of National Black Churches
Correctional Education Association
Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated Federation of State Humanities Councils
Friends of Libraries, U.S.A. General Federation of Women's Clubs International
Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
Graphic Arts Literacy Alliance Home & School Institute, Inc. International Association of Business Communicators Jewish Book Council KIDSNET
Kiwanis International
43
Laubach Literacy Action
Leo Clubs-Lions Clubs International
Library of America
Links, Inc.
Literacy Network
LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens)
Lutheran Church Library Association Modern Language Association of America
Morning Star Foundation National Alliance of Black School Educators
National Alliance of Business
National Association for Adults With Learning Disabilities
National Association for the Education of Young Children
National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Colored Women's Clubs
National Association of Elementary School Principals
National Association of Partners in Education
National Association of Secondary School Principals
National Association of State Units on Aging
National Association of University Women
National Black Child Development Institute
National Book Foundation
National Center for Family Literacy
National Coalition of Title I Chapter I Parents
National Council for the Social Studies
National Council of La Raza
National Council of State Directors of Adult Education
National Council of Teachers of English
National Council on the Aging
National Education Association
National Federation of Press Women
National Governors Association
National Home Study Council
National Organization on Disability
National PTA
National Partners for Libraries and Literacy
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
National School Boards Association
New Jersey Connection
New York Is Book Country, Inc.
Parents Without Partners
Phi Beta Kappa Society
Phi Delta Kappa
Project Literacy U.S. (PLUS)
Public Television Outreach Alliance Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. SER-Jobs For Progress Southern Newspaper Publishers Association
Special Libraries Association Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) U.S. Department of Agriculture National 4-H Extension Service
U.S. Department of Education
U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Government Printing Office
U.S. Information Agency
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
(NCLIS)
U.S. Postal Service
United States Swimming
United Way of America White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services
Taskforce (WHCLIST)
Wider Opportunities for Women Women's National Book Association
44
|