Center for the Book

Cole had previously served as the chairman of the one-year task force on library goals, organization and planning that had recommended a Center for the Book to Dr. Boorstin.

Today there are affiliate centers in all 50 states, American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

[15] Between 1977 and 1987 the Center cosponsored (with the Library's Rare Book and Special Collections Division) the Engelhard Lectures.

Letters About Literature was a national contest created by the Center for the Book that encouraged literacy in grades 4–12.

In 2011 the Center for the Book co-sponsored a concert in which acclaimed composer Libby Larsen set some of the winning poems to music.

The Young Readers Center was opened in the Library of Congress's Thomas Jefferson Building in 2009 to provide a place for children 16 years and younger accompanied by an adult to access reading materials and other literary resources and to attend programs, such as a weekly story hour.

Created and sponsored by philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, the awards support organizations that perform innovative work in increasing literacy levels.

The Poetry & Literature Center organizes a yearly program of readings, performances, conferences and lectures.

The center oversees the prestigious biannual Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry.

Sponsored by the Center for the Book and the Children’s Book Council, the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature serves to promote youth literacy and the valuable attributes it develops, such as lifelong literacy, education and the growth and enhancement of the lives of young people.

Four individuals have held the positions since its creation in 2008: Jon Scieszka, Katherine Paterson, Walter Dean Myers, Kate DiCamillo, and current ambassador Gene Luen Yang.