On April 19, 1993, the Library of Congress's Center for the Book held its annual "Idea Exchange Day," which brought together representatives from its state centers to trade information, suggestions and anecdotes about their efforts to encourage reading and promote book culture.
Simon Michael Bessie of Pantheon Books, the center's national chairman, set the tone by saluting the state centers and their mission. He described the initial worry, in the mid-1980s, that the development of a network of state centers might overwhelm the Center for the Book's small staff, but added, "Look where we are now! It's a miracle that there are now 28 state centers and counting!" (The two most recent additions are Missouri and North Dakota, both announced on April 19. See LC Information Bulletin, May 17.)
Following Mr. Bessie's remarks, John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, asked all of the participants to explain what kind of information or guidance they hoped to gain during the day's discussions. Responses varied from the need to identify and attract new funding sources to offset state budget cuts (state centers must provide their own funding), to tips on how to produce a literary map as a means of showcasing famous state authors and local history.
Some participants were interested in increasing collaboration and communication among state centers, while others hoped to discover ways of taking advantage of new technological developments, including online information/communications networks such as Internet. Others sought tips on how to attract and motivate board members, generate publicity, establish partnerships with organizations beyond the library community and introduce multicultural programming for books and reading.
Dr. Cole and his staff are responsible for assisting the state centers, which have varying levels of both experience and funding.
Throughout the discussion, speakers related the success stories of individual state centers such as the one in Pennsylvania. The center has produced a directory of state authors, "Authors a la Carte," which celebrates local writers and provides teachers and librarians with a list of potential visiting lecturers and storytellers.
Connecticut's Valerie Watt reported on a successful membership program and sponsorship of a series of National Public Radio programs on Connecticut writers. Susan Marchant, who heads the Kansas center, spoke of plans to bring Russian entertainers to schools and libraries in her state and a possible statewide whistle-stop tour to encourage reading that would feature a television personality.
State book award programs in Colorado, Minnesota and Oklahoma were described, as were statewide literature festivals (Nebraska), book fairs (Colorado) and directories of the "community of the book" (California, Minnesota, Wisconsin.)
Jean Trebbi, executive director of the Florida Center for the Book, offered an example of how an ambitious goal was achieved. "The idea of producing a literary map for Florida came up about 10 years ago," she recalled. "But there were other priorities, and we had to put it on hold. Eventually, Pineapple Press published a Book Lover's Guide to Florida, to which we contributed an essay. Since then, we've agreed to work with the publisher and others to use the book as a basis for that map."
"The Wisconsin center is going to establish a data base of state authors and books," announced Faith Miracle, who also described her organization's success in attracting cooperation from the academic and cultural community for specific projects. "We received two grants: one to initiate a book discussion program on Native American literature, which will be conducted by 10 libraries over two years, and another to work with the University of Wisconsin's Department of Geography to produce a cultural map of the state."
One session featured Phyllis Steckler of Oryx Press, who provided another example of innovative partnerships in her description of the Arizona Center for the Book's growing pains. She said that early efforts to build a strong board failed because of a lack of time, funding and influential contacts.
"Eventually, we built a new board composed of writers and business people who were experienced in volunteer work, and we've been successful over the past year," she explained. She offered as an example one board member's resourcefulness in persuading a local public broadcasting company affiliate to fund an author interview program, which the Arizona center would produce. The 12-week series is aired three times per week on three stations, and the Arizona Humanities Council has offered to help the center write a grant for future funding. (For details about other state center projects, see "News from the Center for the Book" in the May 3 issue of the LC Information Bulletin.)
Martha Hopkins and Ileen Gallagher of the Interpretive Programs Office described the Library's traveling exhibitions, particularly "Language of the Land: Journeys Through Literary America" which, thanks to a grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, will be displayed by 16 state centers during the next two years.
Eleanor and Elliot Goldstein of Social Issues Resources Series Inc. (SIRS) introduced their "Library of Congress Corner" display series. Len Oliver of National Issues Forum, with help from two state center coordinators, Faye Glick of Pennsylvania and Mary Birmingham of Minnesota, discussed programming possibilities offered by the National Issues Forum and by the Study Circles Resource Center.
Literacy was an important topic at the meeting. Center for the Book consultant Virginia Mathews described the center's two- year "Library-Head Start Partnership" family literacy project. The training strategies developed in the project for bringing together Head Start teachers and librarians who serve children will be implemented with the help of three state centers in 1993- 1994.
Lynda Zionts, director of literacy education for Thomson Newspapers/North America, a new Center for the Book partner, spoke about possible cooperative efforts using Thomson's 140 newspapers in the United States. "Both the state centers and Thomson newspapers have direct access to families," she said. "We'd like to work with the centers wherever we have newspapers, providing publicity for their efforts. We even have purchased a play about the problem of adult literacy, which we hope we can produce in cooperation with state centers."
Throughout the day's activities, Dr. Cole and others made clear that the reading promotion and outreach activities of the state centers are at the core of the Center for the Book's program.
Simon Bessie put it best when he told the state representatives: "The really exciting events are happening where you are. There are many activities organized around the book in Washington, but you, who reach so many readers, you're where the real life is. Together, we're engaged in a very exciting enterprise; we're very lucky people."
