A general-interest magazine that will draw on the rich resources of the Library of Congress may be in the offing by next year, according to a story in the Library’s Information Bulletin.
Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress will be market-tested at year’s end and, if tests indicate a sufficiently high subscriber potential, the start-up will go forward, according to the Oct. 8 story, with the magazine set to debut in late 1991.
Civilization represents an unusual joint venture between the Library and a New York publishing group headed by Mark Edmiston, a former president of Newsweek, and Charles Rodin, a consultant whose clients include the Hearst Corporation and Scholastic Inc. It will be written by an editorial staff independent of the Library.
The monthly journal will contain articles on current issues, such as the environment, technology, and cultural affairs, and will run as a regular feature a two-page section promoting events and resources available from the Library.
“If this magazine, aimed at the intelligent lay reader, is successful,” said Peter Braestrup, the Library’s senior editor, “it will give libraries in general, and the Library of Congress in particular, a new national constituency of 1 million households.”
Further plans are to be announced in March.
Several recently introduced children’s versions of popular magazines are fresh evidence of the publishing industry’s renewed interest in the children’s market--not only as a key to enhanced advertising revenues, but also as a circulation booster at a time when baby-boom parents are seeking at-home instructional help.
Consumer Reports, Sports Illustrated, and Field and Stream have created junior versions and special youth editions, and Time and Fortune are said to be looking into the concept.
In addition, the Walt Disney Company last month launched its own tabloid for children containing cartoons, games, and stories on people, nature, and science.
Seeing in these and other developments a new, popularized form of combating illiteracy, the Educational Press Association of America has created a directory listing the growing number of education-related journals available to young readers.
Magazines for Children contains information on 123 periodicals published in the United States and Canada. Each listing gives a brief description of the publication, its target audience, cost, and ordering address. Also included are two indexes categorizing all titles by subject matter, age, and grade level.
Magazines for Children is available for $5.25 from the International Reading Association, P.O. Box 8139, Newark, Del. 19714-8139.
Recognizing the growth in the use of children’s literature as an aid to learning, the American Library Association also has created a new publication, “Book Links: Connecting Books, Libraries, and Classrooms,” aimed at teachers and librarians who want to incorporate such materials into K-8 lesson plans.
“Book Links” profiles current books, suggests connections between books, subject matter, and age group, and presents strategies for introducing literature to students.
Now appearing as a monthly insert in the ALA’s Booklist magazine, “Book Links” will be published six times a year as an independent magazine beginning September 1991.
To subscribe, contact the American Library Association at (312) 280-5044.
Touch Books Inc. of Tampa, Fla., is producing a line of books that offers visually impaired students a way to recognize images and color through the sense of touch.
The company’s first volume, The Journey, includes 10 photographs printed with the use of a “deep embossing” technique that gives an accurate tactile representation of objects such as hot-air balloons and waterfalls.
Color codes, resembling Braille type, accompany each picture.
Recommended by the American Council of the Blind and the Library of Congress, The Journey (currently in production) may be ordered by writing Touch Books Inc., P.O. Box 14219, Tampa, Fla. 33690, or calling 1-800-62-TOUCH.
Better parent-school relationships are the focus of “What’s Working in Parental Involvement,” a newsletter whose charter issue was published this month by the Parent Institute, a division of the Virginia-based NIS Inc., an independent, private agency.
Created as a companion to the institute’s “Parents Make the Difference” newsletter, the six-page, 10-times-a-year newsletter offers articles and advice for school administrators and staff members, including case studies of parent-school programs, research about the changing structure of families, public-relations ideas, and resources for obtaining program information.
Individual subscriptions are $79; orders should be addressed to P.O. Box 7474, Fairfax Station, Va. 22039-7474.--SKG
