Research has shown that meaningful improvements in adult literacy require more than the annual average of about 70 hours that adult learners spend in organized literacy instruction. Low student persistence is therefore a critical issue for library literacy programs and other providers of adult education. In response, the Wallace–Reader’s Digest Funds launched the Literacy in Libraries Across America (LILAA) initiative in 1996. Of the fifteen participating libraries, five are the focus of the LILAA persistence study, which is being conducted by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation and the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. This interim report from the study examines the period, starting in 2000, during which the programs developed plans to improve student persistence and began to implement service enhancements.