A Nation of Readers
In response to a proposal from Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin, the U.S. Congress established the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in I977. Representative Lucien N. Nedzi of Michigan and Senator Ho- ward Cannon of Nevada, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library, sponsored the legislation. With enactment of Public Law 95-I29, approved on October 13, 1977, the Congress affirmed its belief in the importance of the book and the printed word and endorsed a program “to investigate the transmission and diffusion of human knowledge.” President Jimmy Carter approved the legislation as an indication of his “commitment to scholarly research and to the development of public interest in books and reading.” At the first gathering of the Center for the Book’s National Advisory Board, Librarian Boorstin introduced the new Center by saying:
You may wonder why the Library of Congress which, of all places on earth, is a center for the book, should now become a place for the establishing of the Center for the Book. It is to organize, focus, and dramatize our nation’s interest and attention on the book, to marshal the nation’s support-spiritual, physical, and fiscal-for the book.
The Times call for it. Why? Because this is a multimedia, electronic, media-ridden, annual-model age.
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