Pennsylvania Library Association Celebrates National Library Week by Highlighting Libraries Reaching for the Stars
Pennsylvania Library Association recognizes libraries for PA Forward® Star achievements earned between March 31, 2023 and March 31,2024
Mechanicsburg, PA (April 4, 2024) - April 7-13, 2024 is National Library Week, a time to highlight the essential role libraries, librarians and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening communities. In honor of this week, the Pennsylvania Library Association is announcing the 2023-2024 PA Forward® Star Library awardees showcasing libraries who are committed to providing quality literacy programming to their communities.
The theme for this year's National Library Week is "Ready, set, library!" and Pennsylvania's libraries encourage everyone in the community to visit their local library to take part in the festivities and explore all the library has to offer.
Libraries give us a green light to experience something truly special: a place to connect with others, learn new skills, and pursue our passions through book clubs, Storytimes, movie nights, crafting classes, lectures, and more. Pennsylvania's Libraries offer a wide array of programs, classes, and resources, including The POWERLibrary a collection of tools which library users can access from home with a card from their local library.
And libraries play a pivotal role in economic development by providing resources and support for job seekers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. Libraries help families to save money by providing materials and collections available to them that they would never be able to afford on their own. Remember that getting your library card is a financially literate action.
No matter where you find yourself on the roadmap through life's journey-preparing for a new career, launching a business, raising a family, or settling into retirement- Pennsylvania's libraries offer the resources and support you need and an inclusive and supportive community where you will feel welcome.
So, get ready to explore, become inspired, and connect with others this National Library Week. Pennsylvania's libraries are there for you, all the way to the finish line.
First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries of all types across the country each April.
"Yes, you can go to your local library and check out books, but these agile institutions demonstrate day in and day out they offer more than books," Buker added. "Libraries offer the world to those who enter their doors. It is an honor during this year's National Library Week to highlight those efforts with the PA Forward® Star Library designation. Congratulations to all of our participating Star Libraries."
PA Forward®, which launched statewide in 2012, works through five key literacies - Basic, Information, Civic & Social, Health and Financial - to assist individuals in enhancing their overall quality of life. To continue helping libraries use PA Forward® to demonstrate all their libraries offer, in January 2017, the Association kicked off the Star Library program statewide. The Star Library recognition offers support to libraries who participate and integrate PA Forward®'s literacies in their programming activities. Program topics can include information such as retirement planning (financial literacy) to more physically active programs such as walking book club discussions (civic and social literacy and health literacy).
Libraries are recognized by their peers for meeting benchmarks within the bronze, silver, and gold star levels of the program. While one star is awarded for both the bronze and gold levels, a total of five stars are awarded in the silver category - one silver star for each of the five literacies of PA Forward®. For each silver star award, a number appears denoting the number of silver stars obtained to date.
Stars are awarded on a quarterly basis in the calendar year and the recognition is for the highest level attained in the program at the time of the award. The libraries noted below are those that earned a first-time star or a new star level between March 31, 2023 and March 31, 2024. For more information about the Star Library Program, visit https://paforward.org/pa-forward-star-program/.
The next round of awards will be announced after July 6, 2024.
The list of awardees, by county, follows:
Adams County
- Adams County Library System - Silver
Allegheny County
- Avalon County Library - Silver
- Baldwin Borough Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Brentwood Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Bethel Park Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Brendtwood Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Bridgeville Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Carnegie Library of Homestead - Gold
- Community Library of Castle Shannon - Gold, Maintenance
- Jefferson Hills Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Monroeville Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Northern Tier Regional Library - Gold
- Northland Public Library Authority - Gold, Maintenance
- Oakmont Carnegie Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Sewickley Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- South Fayette Township Library - Gold, Maintenance
- South Park Township Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Upper St. Clair Township Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Western Allegheny Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
Armstron County
- Ford City Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Berks County
- Bernville Area Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Brandywine Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Hamburg Public Library - Bronze
- Kutztown Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Fleetwood Area Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Mifflin Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Muhlenberg Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Reading Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Village Library of Morgantown - Gold, Maintenance
- Wernersville Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Blair County
- Altoona Area Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Tyrone-Snyder Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Bucks County
- Free Library of Northampton Township - Gold, Maintenance
- Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Warminster Township Free Library - Gold, Maintenance
Butler County
- Butler Area Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Zelienople Area Public Library - Gold
- Cambria County
- Cambria County Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Carrolltown Public Library - Silver
Centre County
- Centre Hall Area Branch - Gold, Maintenance
- Centre County Library and Historical Museum - Gold, Maintenance
- Holt Memorial Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Penn State University Park Library - Silver
Chester County
- Atglen Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Chester County Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Henrietta Hankin Public Library - Bronze
- Tredyffrin Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Clarion County
- Knox Public Library Gold, Maintenance
Clinton County
- Annie Halenbake Ross Library - Gold, Maintenance
Cumberland County
- Bosler Memorial Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Cleve J. Fredricksen Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Ezra Lehman Memorial Library, Shippensburg University - Gold, Maintenance
Dauphin County
- Penn State Harrisburg Library - Gold, Maintenance
Delaware County
- Haverford Township Free Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Lansdowne Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Marple Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Yeadon Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Erie County
- Erie County Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Fayette County
- Carnegie Free Library of Connellsville - Gold, Maintenance
- German-Masontown Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Penn State University Library, Fayette - Gold, Maintenance
Franklin County
- Alexander Hamilton Memorial Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Grove Family Library - Gold, Maintenance
Fulton County
- Fulton County Library - Gold, Maintenance
Greene County
- Eva K. Bowlby Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Indiana County
- Indiana Free Library - Gold, Maintenance
Jefferson County
- Mengle Memorial Library - Gold, Maintenance
Lackawanna County
- Abington Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Carbondale Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Dalton Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Nancy Kay Holmes Branch Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Scranton Public Library (Albright Memorial Library) Gold, Maintenance
- Taylor Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Valley Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
Lancaster County
- Adamstown Area Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Eastern Lancaster County Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Ephrata Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Manheim Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Quarryville Library Center - Silver
Lawrence County
- New Castle Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Lebanon County
- Matthews Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Myerstown Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Palmyra Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Lehigh County
- Emmaus Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Lower Macungie Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Parkland Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
Luzerne County
- Hazelton Area Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Osterhaut Free Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Pittston Memorial Library - Gold, Maintenance
Lycoming County
- James V. Brown Library - Gold, Maintenance
Mercer County
- Community Library of the Shenango Valley - Gold, Maintenance
Monroe County
- Western Pocono Community Library - Bronze
Montgomery County
- Abington Township Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Ardmore Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Bala Cynwyd Memorial Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Conshohocken Free Library - Bronze
- Free Library of Springfield Township - Gold, Maintenance
- Gladwyne Free Library - Gold
- Huntingdon Valley Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Lower Providence Community Library - Silver
- Ludington Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- North Wales Area Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Pottstown Regional Public Library - Gold
- Swedenborg Library, Bryn Athyn College - Gold, Maintenance
- William Jeanes Memorial Library - Gold
Northampton County
- Easton Area Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity - Gold, Maintenance
- Northampton Area Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Northumberland County
- John R. Kauffman Jr. Public Library, Degenstein Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
Potter County
- Genessee Area Library - Gold, Maintenance
Pike County
- Pike County Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Somerset County
- Somerset County Library - Gold, Maintenance
Tioga County
- Green Free - Gold, Maintenance
Washington County
- Chartiers-Houston Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Citizen Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Peters Township Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
Wyoming County
- Tunkhannock Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
York County
- Collinsville Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Dover Area Community Library - Bronze
- Kreutz Creak Library - Bronze
- Martin Memorial Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Guthrie Memorial Library ~ Hanover's Public Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Paul Smith Library of Southern York County - Gold, Maintenance
- Red Land Community Library - Gold, Maintenance
- Village Library - Bronze
This project is made possible, in part, by Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, Governor.