PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK BY HIGHLIGTING LIBRARIES REACHING FOR THE STARS – April 21, 20234

Pennsylvania Library Association recognizes libraries for PA Forward^® Star achievements earned between January 1 and March 31, 2023

Mechanicsburg, PA (April 21, 2023) – April 23-29, 2023 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 first quarter 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 “There is more to the Story,” which promotes the idea that libraries are welcoming spaces that bring communities together for entertainment, education, and connection through book clubs, story times, movie nights, crafting classes, lectures, and more. Our libraries offer a wide array of programs, classes, and resources.

Libraries also offer opportunities to connect with media, programs, ideas, and classes, in addition to books. Most importantly, libraries also connect communities to each other.

Libraries of all types continue to go above and beyond to keep their communities connected by expanding resources and embracing inclusion in their programming, resources, and collections. Libraries across Pennsylvania are making a difference in people’s lives by providing electronic learning resources like online homework help and wi-fi access for students and workers who may lack internet access at home.

“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 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 January 1 and March 31, 2023.

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, 2023.

The list of awardees, by county, follows:

Allegheny County

Baldwin Borough Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Brentwood Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Carnegie Library of Homestead – Gold

Community Library of Castle Shannon – Gold, Maintenance

Oakmont Carnegie Library – Gold, Maintenance

Sewickley Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

South Park Township Library – Gold, Maintenance

Berks County

Brandywine Community Library – Gold, Maintenance

Fleetwood Area Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Reading Public Library – Gold, Maintenance      

Village Library of Morgantown – Gold, Maintenance

Womelsdorf Community Library – Silver

Bucks County

Free Library of New Hope and Solebury – Gold, Maintenance

Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library – Gold, Maintenance

Butler County

Butler Area Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Zelienople Area Public Library – Silver

Cambria County

Cambria County Library – Gold, Maintenance

Carrolltown Public Library – Silver

Tyrone-Snyder Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Centre County

Centre Hall Area Branch – Gold

Penn State University Park Library – Silver                                          

Chester County

Atglen Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Paoli Library – Gold, Maintenance

Tredyffrin Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Clarion County

Knox Public Library

Cumberland County

Bosler Memorial Library – Gold, Maintenance

Cleve J. Fredricksen Library – Gold

Ezra Lehman Memorial Library, Shippensburg University – Gold, Maintenance

Delaware County

Havorford Township Free Library – Gold, Maintenance

Lansdowne Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Fayette County

German-Masontown Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Penn State University Library, Fayette – Gold

Fulton County

Fulton County Library – Gold, Maintenance

Indiana County

Indiana Free Library – Gold, Maintenance

Lancaster County

Manheim Community Library – Gold, Maintenance

Quarryville Library Center – Silver

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

Lebanon County

Matthews Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Myerstown Community Library – Gold, Maintenance

Lehigh County

Emmaus Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Parkland Community Library – Gold, Maintenance

Luzerne County

Hazelton Area Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Pittston Memorial Library – Gold, Maintenance

Lycoming County

James V. Brown Library – Gold, Maintenance

Montgomery County

Bala Cynwyd Memorial Library – Gold, Maintenance

Ludington Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

North Wales Area Library – Gold, Maintenance

Swedenborg Library, Bryn Athyn College – Gold, Maintenance

William Jeanes Memorial Library – Silver

Northampton County

Bangor Public Library – Silver

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

Perry County

Genessee Area Library – Gold, Maintenance

Pike County

Pike County Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Somerset County

Meyersdale Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Washington County

Chartiers-Houston Community Library – Gold, Maintenance

Citizen Library – Gold, Maintenance

Clark Family Library, Washington & Jefferson College – Silver

Peters Township Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Westmoreland County

Vandergrift Public Library – Bronze

Wyoming County

Tunkhannock Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

York County

Collinsville Community Library – Gold, Maintenance

Dover Area Community Library – Bronze

Guthrie Memorial Library ~ Hanover’s Public Library – Gold, Maintenance

Paul Smith Library of Southern York County – Gold, Maintenance

Red Land Community Library – Gold, Maintenance

Beginning January 2020, once a library achieves the Gold level of the PA Forward® Star Library program, libraries will now be able to take steps to maintain their PA Forward® Gold Star status. More information about that process, can be found at www.paforwardstarlibraries.org under the Getting Started tab.   

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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.