"Wow … the folks back home won't believe this!" said Alaska Center for the Book President Barbara Brown when she heard that the Alaska center had won the $5,000 Boorstin State Center for the Book Award for 2000. Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book in the Seattle Public Library, was just as surprised when she learned that the Washington center was receiving the Boorstin National Award, which also includes a $5,000 stipend.
Calling this new century the "information century," she added that "a great guide to the great information on the Internet and elsewhere is the librarian. You can be leaders in this century."
The presentation of the annual Boorstin awards and the welcoming of new state centers from Arkansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia were among the highlights of the 11th annual state center "idea exchange" day held at the Library of Congress on May 1. The all-day meeting, attended by representatives from 37 affiliated state centers, was preceded by a dinner meeting for state coordinators on April 30 and followed by project meetings on May 2.
"This meeting belongs to the affiliated state centers, not to the national center," said Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole. "They enthusiastically share ideas on fund-raising, programming, new projects and organizational issues such as building effective advisory boards. There are so many ideas flying around that at the end of the day I have to remind all the centers, especially the new ones, that it's best to start small with just one or two projects that work for you in your particular situation."
The Boorstin State Award recognizes a specific project or initiative. Presenting the award for 2000 to Alaska, Mr. Cole cited the success of the Alaska Center for the Book's annual Writing Rendezvous and other cooperative projects, "all accomplished with an all-volunteer staff." The National Award honors the contribution that an affiliated state center has made to the overall program. In bestowing the award, Mr. Cole cited the Washington Center for the Book's "If All Seattle Read the Same Book" project as an inspiration to other centers. He also noted the center's extensive literary programming.
Guest speakers and state center coordinators made special presentations about several key Center for the Book partnership projects in which state centers are participating or in which they might be interested. Chris Watkins of the American Library Association discussed "Live at the Library," and Pamela Michael described recent "River of Words" events at the Library of Congress (see Information Bulletin, June 2000). Consultant Cathy Gourley reviewed "Letters About Literature," an annual student essay contest that is the most popular reading promotion project among affiliated state centers. She also discussed and answered questions about project plans for 2000-2001. Last year 28 state centers participated in "Letters About Literature."
Vermont Center for the Book Executive Director Sally Anderson brought attendees up to date on Mother Goose Asks "Why?," the enormously successful family science and literature program administered by the Vermont center with a grant from the National Science Foundation. Nine other state centers participate in the project. Sandy Dolnick, executive director of Friends of Libraries U.S.A. (FOLUSA) spoke about FOLUSA's long partnership with the Center for the Book. She also described the increasing popularity of the Literary Landmark dedication project, in which several state centers participated last year (see Information Bulletin, January 2000). Mary Haggerty of WGBH gave a video presentation about "Between the Lions," the new PBS daily program that helps children from ages of 4 to 7 learn how to read. The Center for the Book is one of the project's "founding partners."
Center for the Book Program Officer Maurvene D. Williams described two compilations, both distributed at the meeting. "State Center Highlights," a 24-page handout, outlines what has happened at each state center in the past year. The State Centers for the Book Handbook—Spring 2000, a 39-page document, provides background information about the state center network, profiles of the state centers and their projects, guidelines for establishing state centers and suggested state center activities. She also updated participants about the Center for the Book's continually expanding Web site which also is experiencing heavier traffic (e.g., 24,454 transactions handled in April 2000 compared to 22,241 in April 1999).
In his remarks, Mr. Cole discussed the growth of the Center for the Book's network of affiliated centers during the past year, noting that there now are 40 state centers plus a District of Columbia Center for the Book. In fall 1999, the Minnesota Center for the Book moved to the Minnesota Humanities Commission, becoming the fourth state center to be located in a state humanities council—Maine, Montana and Tennessee are the others. He reminded state centers that their affiliation with the Library of Congress must be renewed every three years and that applications from the nine state centers due for renewal in 2000 (Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, Vermont) must be received by Dec. 1.
For information about the Center for the Book and its affiliated state center program or for a copy of The State Centers for the Book Handbook, contact the Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC 20540-4920; telephone (202) 707-5221; fax (202) 707-0269; or visit the center's Web site at www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook.