Kentucky Center for the Book Becomes LOC's Newest Affiliate Center

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress welcomes the Kentucky Center for the Book as its newest affiliated center. The Kentucky Center is based at Kentucky Humanities in Lexington.

“We are thrilled to become Kentucky’s Center for the Book,” said Kentucky Humanities Executive Director Bill Goodman. “Kentucky Humanities is deeply committed to promoting literacy in Kentucky through PRIME TIME Family Reading Time, the Kentucky Book Fair and our upcoming Kentucky Reads initiative. We look forward to continuing to share the love of reading and writing and promoting community discussions about great literature and its relevance to our lives with citizens of the Commonwealth.”

Before it joined the Center for the Book network, Kentucky Humanities already had many successful programs to its credit, among them, PRIME TIME Family Reading Time, an intergenerational family literacy program that has so far reached more than 40,000 Kentuckians through 204 programs in 81 counties; and Kentucky Humanities magazine, first published in 1994. In 2016, Kentucky Humanities became the manager of the Kentucky Book Fair, the state’s premier literary event since 1981.

“We are pleased to welcome the new Kentucky Center for the Book as the newest affiliate to help promote reading with the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “The Kentucky Center already has demonstrated a commitment to the mission of promoting books, reading and literacy with its many programs.”

Congress created the Library’s Center for the Book in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books and reading. It has become a national force for reading and literacy promotion with affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The affiliates will meet in the spring to exchange ideas. For more information, visit read.gov.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov; access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov; and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.

Kentucky Humanities is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Kentucky Humanities is supported by the National Endowment and by private contributions. For information about Kentucky Humanities’ programs and services, visit kyhumanities.org.