February 10, 1994

Contact: Barbara Bryant (202) 707-9197

---

New Vermont Center for the Book Approved

The Vermont Reading Project, located in Chester, VT, has officially become the Vermont Center for the Book and the 29th state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

"This is an exciting development," said John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. "Since 1984 the Vermont Reading Project has been a national leader in promoting library-based book discussion groups. This new partnership also gives the Library of Congress its first state center in New England." In the past the Vermont Reading Project has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Vermont Council on the Humanities.

The Vermont Center for the Book will continue its work of conducting book discussion programs at 75 libraries each year and organizing annual book discussion programs for new and "at-risk" readers at approximately 150 schools, libraries, correctional facilities and other sites. For the past five years, it has coordinated an annual "About Books and People," conference for 350 adult new readers. Most recently the Vermont center has begun working closely with the Vermont governor's Success by Six program to put books in the hands of the parents of preschoolers and to train parents and child-care workers in integrating reading into a child's daily routine.

The Vermont Center for the Book is a 501 (c) (3) organization that includes on its Board of Directors representatives from the Vermont Department of Libraries and the Vermont Library Association, a bookseller, and a public librarian. The Vermont center "is committed to calling Vermonters together to form a community of readers who use books as tools for investigating complex ideas in their attempt to understand and shape the world in which they live." For information about the center's activities, write or phone Wendy Martin, Vermont Center for the Book, P.O. Box 441, Chester, VT 05143, (802) 875-2751.

Vermont is the 29th state center for the book to become affiliated with the Library of Congress. State centers participate in the LC Center for the Book's educational outreach program, but they plan and fund their own projects. When its application is approved, a state center is granted affiliate status for three years. Renewals are for three years. For additional information, write the Center for the Book, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540.

# # #

PR 94-034
2/10/94
ISSN 0731-3527