where the writers are

Center for the Book

A favorite of Red Room author, founder and CEO Ivory Madison and Red Room authors John Y. Cole and Paula Hendricks.

Mission: The Center for the Book at the Library of Congresspromotes libraries and literacy, and encourages the historical study of books, reading, and the printed word.

Director: John Y. Cole

Year founded: 1977

Accomplishments:

  • Established affiliate centers in fifty states and the District of Columbia
  • Created a promotion partners program that today includes more than 80 national civic and educational organizations and federal agencies
  • Created a unique resource directory on its website that with links to more than 250 organizations that promote books, reading, literacy, and libraries

In 2007, the Center

  • Developed the new post of National Ambassador for Young People's Literature in partnership with the Children's Book CouncilNatl Book Festival
  • Through coordination of the author program and the Pavilion of the States, a major contribution to the success of the 2007 National Book Festival, which drew an estimated crowd of 120,000 to the National Mall on September 29th
  • Played a key role in the Library of Congress's participation in BibliObraz 2007, an international book festival hosted by Russian First Lady Ludmila Putina and held in Moscow from October 9th to 11th
  • Celebrated another record-breaking year for Letters About Literature, the center's reading and writing program for young people; approximately 59,000 children and young adults wrote letters to their favorite authors, and Target, the program's sponsor, brought the six national winners and their families to the 2007 National Book Festival
  • With the University of Massachusetts Press, copublished Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies After Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, an important contribution to book history studies
  • Sponsored, at the Library of Congress, more than twenty presentations and book signings by authors whose new books related to Library of Congress collections or programs (all of these presentations may be seen on the center's website)

Profile:

At the urging of then-Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin, Congress established the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress by statute with the initial purpose of using the Library's resources and prestige to stimulate public interest in books and reading. In addition to its U.S. affiliates, the center also has developed a broad, informal network of organizations-national and international-that promote books and reading; the network includes several centers for the study of the history of the book located in academic or research organizations. On the international side, the center also has inspired the creation of reading promotion centers in several countries, most recently South Africa and Russia.

The Center is public-private partnership, and depends primarily on tax-deductible contributions from foundations, individuals, and corporations to fund its projects, publications, and reading promotion events and programs. To donate, please visit the Center's website.

Center for the Book logo 2

–Huntington W. Sharp, Editor, Red Room

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