91´«Ã½

CHICAGO - Alexander Street Press will collaborate with the Film and Media Roundtable (FMRT) of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) and the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) in sponsoring a scholarship for future media librarians. The deg farrelly Memorial/Alexander Street Press AMIA/FMRT Media Librarian Scholarship is to be given once a year to a Master's degree candidate in Library Science in an 91´«Ã½ Accredited School who intends to work professionally as a media librarian in an academic institution.

The scholarship honors the legacy of deg farrelly, librarian emeritus at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. He was a pioneering media librarian who worked for four decades “to strengthen the usefulness and legitimacy of film and video as a tool in teaching and research across all disciplines.” farrelly’s commitment to media librarianship, and the preservation of and access to media materials, is a commitment shared by both AMIA and FMRT.

Upon deg’s passing in 2018, past chair of FMRT, Brian Boling proposed developing a scholarship in his honor to Dennis Doros, head of Milestone Films and current president of AMIA. Past chair of FMRT and current Scholarship Committee chair, Michele McKenzie worked closely with Doros, AMIA Managing Director Laura Rooney and 91´«Ã½’s FMRT liaison, Danielle Ponton, to craft the co sponsored scholarship.

"My dear friend deg farrelly (never capitalized!) was one of a kind,” Doros remembered. "Passionate, brilliant, feisty — he knew that audiovisual education was vital to the intellectual and emotional growth of students. He was dedicated to bringing in the best learning materials from around the world. It was frequently a difficult and arduous task, but he had the boundless energy and dedication to obtain them. deg was concerned near the end of his life that the job of media librarian was nearing extinction. I am thrilled that the deg farrelly Memorial/Alexander Street Press AMIA/FMRT Media Librarian Scholarship will ensure that MLIS students will have the opportunity and training to carry on in his (giant) footsteps."

The $2000 scholarship is distributed in two parts – a $1,000 Education Grant (to be used solely for tuition and or books) administered by 91´«Ã½/FMRT and another $1,000 Cash Award (to be used for other education related expenses (i.e. books, workshops, conference fees, etc.), administered by AMIA.

"deg was a founding and long-standing member of the Alexander Street video advisory board,” said David Parker, Alexander Street Press senior director of product management. “Always provocative and insightful, deg supported the evolution of our business from the content we licensed and published to the access models we provide for library consumption. But deg was so much more. He provided a light-hearted but intimate friendship to all who knew him and always helped each of us to be our better selves. Supporting this scholarship in deg’s name is but a small remembrance and a token of our appreciation for deg’s contribution to Alexander Street and video librarianship."

The recipients of the award will be selected by FMRT and AMIA members of the Scholarship Committee from those who apply on the . ()

“Our brother, deg farrelly, has always been fascinated by media in all its forms. I remember watching old movies after school every day with deg,” said his sister Deirdre (Dee) Farrelly. “His entire professional library career was obtaining, recovering, and saving media and media equipment. deg felt deeply about this with serious concerns about what others considered outdated to be kept for the future. He was a man well ahead of others and a specialist in this field of library media.

"We’ve always known how creative, intelligent, and committed deg was. He would be so honored to have a scholarship in his name, especially one that would be used to continue his mission.”

The award will be announced at the FMRT Gala at the 2020 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference to be held in Chicago.

Alexander Street Press/Proquest Contact

David Parker

Senior Director- Product Management

Alexander Street Press

dparker@alexanderstreet.com