National Book Festival

Having left Washington DC in 2002 I rarely have missed living there however today is an exception. Today is the "National Book Festival" being hosted by the Library of Congress in Washington DC (http://www.loc.gov/bookfest).

The festival's co-hosts are First Lady Laura "Librarian -in-Chief" Bush and the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, whom I had the pleasure of meeting when he was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Washington DC several years ago. Imagine having Laura and James as members of your book club!! Now that would generate an interesting conversation.

On a side note the Library of Congress (LOC) was established by an Act of Congress in 1800 via an appropriation of $5,000 as an agency of the legislative branch of the US Government. Today the LOC is the "world's largest library" according to their website. While I do not want to see more tax dollars spent overall I would like to see the LOC create a network of "affiliates" in key cities around the USA. Essentially I want to de-centralize the LOC a bit by having perhaps five cities around the USA such as -- Seattle, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, and Miami -- "assign/donate" one of their current public libraries to become an official "LOC Affiliate/Branch Location" so the resources of the LOC have more geographic reach as a resource for researchers and the general public via traveling collections and guest lecturers -- paid for via their privately-funded James Madison Council which book worms like me should contribute to as concerned citizens.

Enough said on that -- let me return to the book festival which features 70 authors reading their work on the National Mall in Washington DC. The lead sponsor of this event is Target Corporation -- a great corporate citizen in Minnesota -- so I have some local pride in this festival beyond my love of books.

Since I won't be in Washington DC for the festival today I plan to read some personal selections at home today thus avoiding the crowds :-)

Todd