Dominican University to Open Butler Children's Literature Center

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By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 12/18/2008

Children’s author Jon Scieszka will be on hand January 10 for a private reception to honor the opening of Dominican University’s new Butler Children’s Literature Center, dedicated to fostering a life-long love of reading

Dean Susan Roman (from left) with Lynne Butler Adams, Butler family Foundation trustee, and Professor Debra Mitts-Smith, chair of the Butler Center planning board.

Located within the university’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), the center is in the process of building an historical collection of the best children’s and young adult literature from around the world, as well new books submitted by publishers, and additional titles selected as resources for teachers and librarians.

The center, which seeks to serve educators, scholars, researchers, librarians, teachers, and parents--also plans to host a Website of literature-based resources for librarians, teachers, and parents, providing access to the International Children’s Digital Library, and serving as a permanent home for the Children’s Reading Round Table of Chicago.

GSLIS was established in 1930 and is one of the largest master’s degree programs in the country. The American Library Association-accredited school boasts four full-time faculty with expertise in children’s and young adults’ literature.

The center is funded in part through the Butler Family Foundation and is a partnership between the GSLIS, the School of Education, and the Rebecca Crown Library.

Recently appointed by the Library of Congress as the country’s first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Scieszka is the author of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs; Caldecott honor The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales; and The Frog Prince Continued and Math Curse, which was named the Best Children’s Book by Publisher’s Weekly in 1995. He is also the founder of Guys Read, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging boys to read.

“Given our focus on quality children’s literature and our mission to promote reading as educational as well as fun, we were convinced that Jon Scieszka would be an ideal person to help us dedicate our new center,” says Susan Roman, GSLIS’s dean. “In his inimitable fashion, he has been encouraging children to read for over two decades.”