November 5, 2002 New Mexico Center for the Book Wins $6100 Boorstin Community Service Award

Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole announced today that the New Mexico Center for the Book, one of the national center's 49 state affiliates, has received the first Boorstin "Community Togetherness Award."

The award is named for Librarian of Congress Emeritus Daniel J. Boorstin and his wife, Ruth. Boorstin, Librarian of Congress from 1975-1987, established the Center for the Book in 1977. To mark their recent 61st wedding anniversary, the Boorstins gave the national center a gift of $6100 to be presented to a state center that demonstrated unusual success in involving different parts of the community in its reading and literacy promotion programs.

"In the spirit of togetherness that we have been so fortunate to share for so many years, Ruth and I want to support creative projects that involve all parts of a community and help bring it together," said Boorstin.

"One of our smaller but most dedicated state affiliates, the New Mexico Center for the Book has brought national outreach projects such as Letters About Literature and River of Words to small towns and communities throughout the state since 1996," said Cole. "In addition, the award recognizes the center's work with the 10 small New Mexico public libraries that have received Center for the Book/Viburnum Foundation Family Literacy Awards since 1998, as well as its role in hosting project workshops in 1998 and 2001. Finally, we are honoring the driving force behind the early activities of the New Mexico Center for the Book, its founder and coordinator, Marsie Cate."

The New Mexico Center for the Book will use funds from the Boorstin award to help support two new projects for young people: Poetry in Place and Creative Writing in Place, which will be hosted by libraries in rural, difficult-to-reach towns and American Indian reservations.

The Center for the Book was established by Congress 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 program and the activities of its 49 state affiliates and other reading promotion partners, see its Web site: www.loc.gov/cfbook.