The Center for the Book will be 25 years old in October 2002. This is the eighth in a series of articles that summarizes its activities in its first quarter century.
State centers were not part of the original plan when the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established on Oct. 13, 1977. The first affiliated center, Florida, was established in 1984 in response to a proposal from the Broward County Library in Fort Lauderdale. In 1987, when James H. Billington became Librarian of Congress, there were ten state centers. With the establishment of the South Dakota Center for the Book just this year, the total of affiliated state centers reaches 47.
Between 1984 and 1987, with help from the new state center coordinators, Center for the Book Director John Cole crafted guidelines for state center activities. The guidelines are still in effect. The goal of the state centers is to carry the Center for the Book's mission of "stimulating public interest in books, reading, literacy, and libraries" to the state and local level, using the partnership with the Library of Congress as an incentive and leverage within the state. Each center needs to be statewide, provide its own financial and in-kind support, and use its affiliation with the Library of Congress judiciously. Centers are welcome to use Library of Congress promotional themes, but local adaptations and independent projects appropriate to the state are encouraged. State centers are required to renew their affiliations every three years, outlining in their applications past accomplishments as well as future programming and funding plans.
Each state center has an institutional home. Most of the state centers are located either in state libraries or large public library systems, but eight (Alabama, Arizona, California, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) are hosted by universities and six (Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota and Tennessee) by state humanities councils. Information about the activities of all of the state centers is available on the Center for the Book's Web site: www.loc.gov/cfbook.
State centers were not part of the original plan when the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established on Oct. 13, 1977. The first affiliated center, Florida, was established in 1984 in response to a proposal from the Broward County Library in Fort Lauderdale. In 1987, when James H. Billington became Librarian of Congress, there were ten state centers. With the establishment of the South Dakota Center for the Book just this year, the total of affiliated state centers reaches 47.
Since 1987, representatives of state centers have gathered annually at the Library of Congress to exchange ideas and share information. The meeting this year began with a dinner on May 5, continued the next day with lively discussion, special presentations from invited guests and a reception in the Library's Montpelier Room, and concluded on May 7 with small group meetings. Representatives from 41 centers participated and congratulated colleagues from 2002's five new state centers (Hawaii, Iowa, New Jersey, New York and South Dakota.)
The presentation of the Boorstin State Center Awards has been an annual meeting highlight since 1997. Supported by an endowment established in 1987 by Center for the Book founder Daniel J. Boorstin and his wife Ruth on the occasion of Boorstin's retirement as Librarian of Congress, the award recognizes and supports (through a cash prize of $5,000) the achievements of individual state centers. Winners have been Florida and Nebraska (1997); Vermont and Oklahoma (1998); Virginia and Missouri (1999); Washington and Alaska (2000); Colorado (2001); and Connecticut (2002). Presented on May 6 at the annual state center meeting, the 2002 award recognized the Connecticut Center for the Book's success with its annual "World of Words" promotion program and other innovative and cooperative projects that stimulate public interest in books and reading throughout Connecticut.
While the Library of Congress supports the Center for the Book's four staff salaries, all of the center's activities must be supported by funds raised from the private sector or transferred from other government agencies. The state center program received a major boost in 1999 when Brian J. and Darlene Heidtke created the State Center for the Book Trust Fund, which supports the national Center for the Book's efforts to maintain, strengthen and expand the state center network.
The national Center for the Book occasionally is able to support projects that benefit state centers directly. In 1992, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund gave the center a grant for "The Literary Heritage of the States," a three-year education and traveling exhibition program. The first phase was "Language of the Land: Journeys into Literary America," a traveling exhibition of literary maps that was hosted by 16 state centers and nine other libraries across the U. S. between 1993 and 1997. Funds are still available to state centers to create new state literary maps. In 2001-2002, 36 affiliated centers participated in the national center's 16-year-old "Letters About Literature" student essay contest, in which youngsters submit letters to authors of books that have made a difference in their lives. In 2001-2002, eight state centers participated in the national center's "River of Words" student environmental art and poetry contest.
Looking ahead, with support from AT&T and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the national center is making $5,000 awards to 22 state centers for events that will promote the National Book Festival on Oct. 12.
Increasingly, state centers are benefiting from their association with each other. For example, the Vermont Center for the Book included nine other state centers in its "Mother Goose Asks 'Why?'" science-based program of children's literature activities, funded by the National Science Foundation from 1998-2001. In addition to the annual state center "idea exchange" at the Library of Congress, the first regional gathering of state centers for the book took place on Oct. 6, 2000, hosted by the Colorado Center for the Book.