Designed to provide a comprehensive literacy reference for public libraries, this handbook presents a glossary of terms, background information on functional literacy, and brief reviews of 14 additional topics: (1) literacy statistics; (2) adult performance levels; (3) the problem of adult education; (4) illiteracy generates itself; (5) about adult learners; (6) libraries and literacy; (7) national organizations; (8) recruiting adult new readers; (9) recruiting volunteer tutors; (10) collection development; (11) publishers of books for adult new readers; (12) the Coalition for Literacy; (13) a sample press release announcing the availability of an adult new reader collection; and (14) a list of 12 sources for background information on functional illiteracy. A list of 15 Mid-York libraries housing literacy core collections as of January 1988 is appended. (CGD)