April 3-9, 2022 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 2022 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 “Connect with Your Library,” which promotes the idea that libraries are places to get connected to technology by using broadband, computers, and other 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, 2022. 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, 2022.
The list of awardees, by county, follows:
Allegheny County
- Bethel Park Public Library – Gold, Maintenance
- Bridgeville Public Library – Gold, Maintenance
- Community Library of the Allegheny Valley – Gold, Maintenance
- South Fayette Township Library – Gold, Maintenance
- Whitehall Public Library – Gold, Maintenance
Berks County
- Wyomissing Public Library – Gold
- Muhlenberg Community Library – Gold, Maintenance
- Village Library of Morgantown, PA – Gold, Maintenance
Butler County
- Zelienople Public Library – Silver, 4
Centre County
- Centre County Library and Historical Museum – Silver, 5
- Centre Hall Area Branch, Silver, 4
Chester County
- Kennett Library – Silver, 5
Erie County
- McCord Memorial Library – Silver, 2
Franklin County
- Grove Family Library – Gold, Maintenance
Jefferson County
- Punxsutawney Memorial Library – Silver, 1
Lancaster County
- Adamstown Area Library – Gold
- Manheim Township Public Library – Silver, 3
Lackawanna County
- Abington Community Library – Gold, Maintenance
- Valley Community Library – Gold, Maintenance
Lebanon County
- Annville Free Library, Gold
Lehigh County
- Allentown Public Library – Gold, Maintenance
Montgomery County
- Ludington Public Library – Gold, Maintenance
York County
- Martin Memorial 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.
