The Saul O Sidore Memorial Foundation, a private non-profit charitable trust located in Bedford, N.H., announces the award of three grants to public libraries in New Hampshire. The semi-annual grants are part of a long-term commitment to providing funding for libraries in towns with fixed resources for limited projects that help to improve the libraries' service to their constituency. Priority is given toward programs that promote and enhance reading.

The grants were awarded to the Conway Public Library, the Madbury Library and the Northumberland Public Library, Groveton. The grant to the Conway Public Library, in the amount of $3,200, will furnish a new young adults' reading area in the library. The grant to the Madbury Library, in the amount of $1,200, will allow the purchase of 110 books in specific interest areas for their children's collection. The grant to the Northumberland Public Library, $1,500, will provide a new computer, with the related telephone line and initial installation of Internet access for use by the Library's patrons.

The grants are named in memory of Rebecca Lee Spitz, a native of Manchester and a trustee of the Foundation who died of cancer at the age of 47. She had earned a masters degree in Library Science, and had worked for several years as a multi-lingual librarian for the city of Haifa, Israel. In addition to being a volunteer at the Hollis Social Library, she also served for a number of years as Treasurer of the Hollis School District.

The first grant in this program was awarded in December, 1995 to the Hollis Social Library. Additional grants since then have gone to thirty-four municipal libraries and two charitable organizations, for a cumulative total of over $61,000.

Further grants in this program will be considered at the next semi-annual meeting of the Foundation, which will take place in May 2002. For information about the guidelines and the form of application, municipal libraries in New Hampshire need to make written inquiries to: Ralph Sidore, Treasurer, Saul O Sidore Memorial Foundation, 24 Gage Road, Bedford, N.H. 03110.