NEW SCHOLARSHIP FOR PART-TIME STUDENTS AT PITT HONORS "BEGINNING WITH BOOKS" CO-FOUNDER

PITTSBURGH, Mar. 5 -- A new scholarship named for Joan Brest Friedberg, co-founder of the Carnegie Library's "Beginning with Books" project, focuses directly on the special needs of part-time students in the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Information Sciences.

"Beginning with Books" was created as an early literacy intervention project, to bring reading and literature to the attention of children and families and to foster in them a life-long love of reading.

The Friedberg Scholarship is the first in the library and information science department to be earmarked exclusively for part-time students. Endowed by Pitt alumna Naomi L. Siegel, the scholarship will be awarded to students in the MLIS program who intend to pursue careers in public librarianship.

This honor comes on the heels of Friedberg's recent retirement from "Beginning with Books." "Joan Friedberg's special passion has always been the infinitely renewable gift of education, specifically through reading," said Siegel, class of '88. "'Beginning with Books' is in existence because of Joan's desire to share the joy of reading, particularly through our public libraries and librarians.

"By establishing this scholarship, I hope to recognize the fine work to which Joan has devoted herself and to encourage some of the hardest-working, most focused students at SIS," said Siegel.

The chair of the library and information science department, Edie Rasmussen, hopes this scholarship will assist students with the problems of getting a master's degree part-time. "I have great admiration for our part-time students, who balance demands of family, job and school to complete our programs, often with considerable personal sacrifice," said Rasmussen. "We have had few mechanisms to offer financial assistance to these students, and I welcome the Friedberg Scholarship for the opportunity it offers us to recognize and reward the efforts of part-time students to complete the MLIS degree."

The first recipient of the Joan Brest Friedberg Scholarship is Sharon Washington, an employee of "Beginning with Books," who will graduate from the School of Information Sciences in the spring.

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