The Ohio Center for the Book @ Cleveland Public Library is dedicated to promoting and celebrating books, reading, literacy, and libraries to Ohio’s residents and the book community at-large. We are the designated Ohio Affiliate of The Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and are part of a network of Centers for the Book across the country. The Ohio Center for the Book @ Cleveland Public Library also maintains a growing circulating collection of fiction and non-fiction books written by Ohio authors housed in the Literature Department at the Cleveland Public Library. Taking its cue from Ohio’s status as the “birthplace” of Superman and the state’s being home to significant historic and current comics creators, the Ohio Center for the Book adopts as one of its primary charges the promotion and advocacy of comics as an important and unique medium of expression.
History
Starting in 1984, the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress began to establish affiliate centers in the 50 states. Today, there is a State Center for the Book in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. These Center for the Book affiliates carry out the national Center’s mission in their local areas, sponsor programs that highlight their area’s literary heritage and call attention to the importance of books, reading, literacy and libraries.
In 1997, the Ohio Center for the Book was established at the State Library of Ohio to promote Ohio’s book culture and literary heritage.
On November 14, 2003, the Ohio Center for the Book’s move to Cleveland Public Library was officially inaugurated by James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, and John Cole, Director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Also in attendance at the event were Bob Ney, Congressman,18th District of Ohio; Michael Lucas, State Librarian of Ohio; and Edward A. D’Alessandro, former Director of Cleveland Public Library. The event was documented in the 2003 Annual Report of the Cleveland Public Library and in the Minutes of the November 2003 Meeting of the Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustees.
Past Programs
Letters About Literature
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book, invited readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest. To enter, readers wrote a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre– fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s way of thinking about the world or themselves.
Past Years
Ohio Poetry Out Loud
Ohio Poetry Out Loud was a free national program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and administered in Ohio by the Ohio Arts Council. This program encourages students to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.
Contact Us
Ohio Center for the Book @ Cleveland Public Library
325 Superior Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: 216.623.2881
Fax: 216.623.2976
Email us: OhioCenterForTheBook@cpl.org