Thirteen national leaders were interviewed about their concerns and hopes for adult literacy. Questions focused on research and public policy, literacy awareness, harmful notions and misconceptions in the field, and the role of the new National Institute for Literacy (NIL). Everyone interviewed stressed the need for research and public policy that would establish adult literacy as a high quality enterprise and full-fledged professional field. Their responses touched on such issues as definitional problems, assessment and evaluation, standards of accountability, staff development and teacher training, and funding. They identified these issues in workplace/work force literacy: the need for more information, incentives to place more responsibility for worker skills upgrading on business and industry, more research on the transfer of cognitive learning to performance-specific contexts, longevity, the extent to which workplace programs should be job related, and the paucity of technical assistance. The interviewees were concerned about misconceptions such as: (1) the literacy problem has been solved by the establishment of the NIL; (2) school reform is the answer to the adult illiteracy problem; and (3) voluntary programs can solve the adult illiteracy problem. Nearly everyone called for continued awareness efforts. All hoped that the NIL would become the major leadership voice. (YLB)