The Florida Library Association (FLA) Scholarship Committee awards three graduate school scholarships ($2,000 each): one at Florida State University, one at the University of South Florida and a third, the Minority scholarship, which may be awarded at either school.  These wil be awarded at the upcoming FLA in ORlando, April 18-20.

The scholarships are available from a dedicated fund and have been given since 1995. This fund is replenished through donations and fundraising activities. The primary fundraising activity is the Silent Auction held at the FLA Annual Conference

Natasha won the minority scholarship, “It is such an honor to be awarded the FLA Minority Scholarship as I begin my studies towards an MLIS degree. This success serves as an encouraging reminder of my potential in the field, and only excites me more for what the future can hold, guided by those who wish for me to excel. The degree is a passport to new experiences, and receiving this scholarship helps me to come that much closer to achieving my goals. ” 

 

Additionally, I will be attending FLA this year! My fellow library staff at the UCF College of Medicine are putting together a poster to present (and it’s my very first library conference).

 

Catharine “Caty” Greene, won the FSU FSL scholarship.  Caty, librarian of the Apalachicola Municipal Library, has been around libraries her whole life, but never imagined how wonderful it would be to be a librarian. Now at age 60, she has entered FSU’s SLIS.  Raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she used to work with her mother at Harvard’s History of Science Library some afternoons after school.

 

A Florida transplant of 9 years, she is working to bring her small rural library into the 21 st Century. A mother of two sons, she strives to bring the love of reading to her younger patrons, while satisfying the desire for good “escapist” fiction for her adult patrons. She writes a weekly column in the Apalachicola Times about books and other stuff.

 

Her library collections include an extensive Florida section and a developing collection on Southern Fiction.

 

When not working or studying, she has a growing “shoreline inspired” jewelry and crafts business called “Laughing Gull”, using beads and native Apalachicola oyster shells. She also loves to garden and watch political shows on TV, but doesn’t get nearly enough exercise, except with her fingers in the keyboard.