May 2, 2002 South Dakota Center for the Book Approved

The Library of Congress has approved a proposal for the establishment of a South Dakota Center for the Book that will be affiliated with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. The South Dakota Humanities Council will be the home of the new center.

"The South Dakota Humanities Council has a longstanding interest in South Dakota literature and writers and in programs that stimulate reading and discussion," said Donald Simmons, the council's executive director. "We will make the South Dakota Center for the Book a major program area and look forward to creating new statewide alliances and sources of private and other support. We also are exploring the possibility of a statewide book festival that could bring thousands of visitors to South Dakota each year."

The South Dakota Center for the Book will develop an independent Web site, implement a pilot "Prime Time Family Reading Program," and begin promoting South Dakota's "community of the book" through the South Dakota Humanities Council's Speaker's Bureau. Future plans call for updating the state's literary map, developing workshops for aspiring writers, creating programs that feature South Dakota book and publishing arts, and providing, via its Web site, a statewide clearinghouse for information about literacy and related book and reading promotion programs.

For information about the South Dakota Center for the Book, contact Jeanne Jones Manzer, Interim Coordinator, South Dakota Center for the Book, P.O. Box 5050, University Station, Brookings SD 57007, phone (605) 688-6113, fax (605) 688-4531, email jeanne_manzer@sdstate.edu.

The Center for the Book was established in 1977 to use the resources and prestige of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books, reading, literacy, and libraries. For information about its projects and publications and the activities of its affiliates in 47 states and the District of Columbia, visit its Web site at www.loc.gov/cfbook.