Austin – First Lady Laura Bush has invited two Austin Community College professors of library sciences to visit The White House on October 13 to honor them and others for their support of the Texas Book Festival, held each November in the State Capitol.

Dr. Julie Todaro, ACC dean of library services and Leslie Navarro, assistant professor of learning resource services, will be joining other members of the Texas Book Festival steering committee for a luncheon the First Lady and President Bush are hosting. Todaro first met the First Lady about seven years ago when the Texas Library Association sent Todaro as a representative to assist the First Lady of Texas with establishing a statewide book festival.

“Mrs. Bush is a librarian herself and was approached by some people about the importance of raising funds for public libraries,” Todaro says. “Mrs. Bush really was an active worker during those six years she was here.

“After she’d finish attending to her duties as the governor’s wife, Mrs. Bush would meet with us and discuss the plans for the festival,” Todaro says. “We were thrilled that she chose to stay involved after she left Texas. She’s the honorary chairperson and still recommends authors for us to invite.”

The money raised through book sales at the festival, which will be held on November 16 and 17, is given to public libraries for their book collections. Some featured authors this year are Anne Rice, Rick Bragg, Sandra Cisneros, and 2002 Newberry Award winner Richard Peck. In the last five years, the Festival has raised $1.4 million for the Texas Library Association grant program.

Todaro and several other members of the Festival’s steering committee consulted on the planning of the National Book Festival, which was first held last year in Washington, D.C. Todaro and Navarro, who runs the volunteer program for the Texas Book Festival, will be attending the national festival on October 12.

For more information, visit www.texasbookfestival.org.