AWARD OF REBECCA LEE SPITZ LIBRARY GRANTS ANNOUNCED

The award of grants to one public library in New Hampshire and to a New Hampshire-based non-profit, that provides specialized library services to communities in New Hampshire and Vermont, has been announced by the Saul O Sidore Memorial Foundation, a private non-profit charitable trust located in Bedford, N.H. The grants, awarded semi-annually, 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 public library grant was awarded to the Farmington Public Library Association in the amount of $2,000. The funds will help to remodel the library's building so it meets handicapped-accessibility requirements. The other grant was made to the Children's Literacy Foundation of Hanover, also in the amount of $2,000, and is intended to be an annual award, due to the geographically diverse and unique nature of their efforts. In addition, an annual grant of $1,500 is made to New Hampshire libraries through the New Hampshire State Library for the Kids, Books and the Arts summer program.

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. 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 forty-two municipal libraries and two charitable organizations, for a cumulative total of over $68,000.

Further grants in this program will be considered at the next semi-annual meeting of the Foundation, which will take place in May, 2004. 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.