Kino Lorber to create scholarship for future media librarians

New York City - Art-house film distribution company Kino Lorber, Inc., today announced its collaboration with the Video Roundtable (VRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) in creating a scholarship for future media librarians. The scholarship is to be given once a year to a Masters degree candidate in Library Science in an ALA Accredited School who intends to work professionally as a media librarian in an academic institution.

“We owe a lot to librarians,” said Jeff Tamblyn, Kino Lorber’s Director of Educational Sales and Distribution. “We want to help promote and further the profession, especially for those who work in cinema and media.”

The scholarship has two parts – a $1,000 cash award and a trip to New York City for the recipient to attend a film festival and spend a day learning about the distribution business from the professionals at Kino Lorber.

Current chair of the VRT Brian Boling worked closely with Tamblyn and ALA’s VRT Liaison Danielle Alderson to craft the concept. The recipients of the award will be selected by VRT members from those who apply on the ALA website. (ala.org/vrt/scholarshipform)

Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber says the scholarship, “aligns closely with our aim of building audiences for exceptional films.” Lorber has been in the distribution business for over 2 decades, bringing acclaimed narrative and documentary films to North America. He also holds a Doctorate in Fine Arts from Columbia University. 

“Having spent many years in academia before entering the film business, I’m personally most pleased to see us helping library science students pursue a path in the media,” Lorber said.  “I still gratefully remember the valuable assistance from those media librarians at the old Donnell Library in NYC that helped me wade through their extensive collection of 16 mm classic and experimental films I sought to screen in connection with my courses in 20^th Century art. I was an art historian but knew woefully little about the history of cinema and can trace back to this guidance in the use of film in teaching to setting me on my current and most satisfying path of film distribution.”

The initial award will be given at this year’s VRT Mixer, sponsored by Kino Lorber’s educational division, Kino Lorber EDU, at the ALA Annual Conference, held this year in Orlando. Kino Lorber is located in New York City.

Kino Lorber contact

Jeff Tamblyn

jtamblyn@kinolorber.com

212 629 6880

kinolorber.com and kinolorberedu.com

ALA press contact

Danielle Alderson

dalderson@ala.org