October 1, 2000 Author and Marketing Consultant Estelle Ellis to Speak at the Library of Congress on Nov. 6

Marketing consultant Estelle Ellis, co-author of The Booklover's Repair Kit: First Aid for Home Libraries (Knopf, 2000), will discuss her new book at the Library of Congress on Monday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m. in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave., S.E. Part of the Center for the Book's "Books & Beyond" author series, the program is free and open to the public. No tickets are required. The event is co-sponsored with the Archives Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, which recently acquired Estelle Ellis' business records.

Ellis, who was responsible for the marketing and promotion of such magazines as Seventeen, Glamour, and House & Garden, also is the co-author of At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Books (Clarkson N. Potter, 1994), and At Home with Art: How Art Lovers Live with and Care for Their Treasures (Clarkson N. Potter, 1999). Her co-authors of The Booklover's Repair Kit are Wilton Wiggins and Douglas Lee, hand bookbinders in Santa Fe, N.M.

The Booklover's Repair Kit includes a 112-page manual with drawings by Timothy C. Ely and photographs by Leonard Morris, and materials, tools, and instructions for book repair. In her preface, Ellis explains that the kit "is not intended to help people care for their first editions or to restore collector's books of historical value." Instead, it "was created to enable 'ordinary' people to fix the 'ordinary' books they treasure and can't bear to part with. These are books with emotional value that have stories to tell about ourselves."

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books, reading, and libraries. For information about its program, publications, and the activities of its affiliated centers for the book in 40 states and the District of Columbia, visit its Web site at www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook.