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Working with publishers and libraries, the White
House sees the modest plan as part of a strategy to address
inner city problems by increasing educational opportunities for
kids - woes brought into focus with recent riots in nearby
Baltimore.
"If we're serious about living up to what our country is about,
then we have to consider what we can do to provide opportunities
in every community, not just when they're on the front page, but
every day," said Jeff Zients, Obama's top economic adviser, in a
briefing with reporters.
Zients cited research showing 80 percent of low-income children
lag below their grade level in reading skills and lack books at
home. The president will be visiting Anacostia Library in
Southeast Washington, DC.
The plan includes $250 million in e-book commitments from
publishers, including from the five major publishing houses:
Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH's Macmillan, CBS Corp's
Simon & Schuster Inc, Penguin Random House, Lagardere SCA's
Hachette Book Group Inc, and News Corp's HarperCollins
Publishers LLC.
The New York Public Library is developing an app to connect
low-income kids with the books, and Obama will urge more
communities to find ways to get kids into libraries.
Kids will need computers and devices to read the e-books. Zients
noted the White House had previously announced programs to
upgrade Internet services for schools and libraries, with
private sector help from companies including Apple, which
pledged $100 million in devices to low-income schools.
"It's very different than for our generation," said Cecilia
Munoz, Obama's domestic policy adviser.
"More and more, you're going to be seeing kids using devices,
and what we're doing is making sure that there's more books
available on those devices," Munoz told reporters.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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