About Becoming American

History of the project

"Becoming American – New Immigration Stories" is part of the "Millennium Project for Public Libraries," an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Library of American (LOA) and the American Library Association (ALA) and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

In the fall of 2004, the American Library Association hosted a planning meeting to discuss building excellent collections of American immigrant literature for adults and families. An advisory group of librarians and scholars convened to facilitate the creation of reading lists for children, young adults and adult readers. Meeting participants were asked to discuss the nature and importance of collection development, the selection of appropriate and outstanding books, important themes addressed in immigrant literature, the intended readers of selected titles, and the educational benefits of providing the selection of books to libraries.

The "Becoming American – New Immigration Stories" Web site has been created to share the outcomes of this project with librarians and facilitate local programming related to the theme.