Fran Brown of Altoona browses the true crime section at the Altoona Area Public Library on Tuesday afternoon. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

TYRONE – From registering voters to hosting sensory storytimes to teaching “Adulting 101,” area libraries have gotten creative in the ways they engage with their communities, and their efforts did not go unnoticed during this year’s National Library Week.

First sponsored in 1958 by the American Library Association, National Library Week is celebrated April 6-12 and recognizes libraries across the country. In honor of this week, the Pennsylvania Library Association awarded Gold Star designations to the Altoona Area, Cambria County and Tyrone-Snyder public libraries as part of the PA Forward Star Library Program for their role in providing quality literacy programming to their patrons.

PA Forward was launched in 2012 and works through the “five key literacies” of basic, information, health, financial, civic and social to improve patrons’ quality of life. To continue helping libraries use the program, in January 2017, the association kicked off the Star Library program statewide, according to a release from the library association.

Tyrone-Snyder Public Library Director Jen Powell said in order to maintain Gold Star designation, which they’ve done since 2018, the awarded library has to “continuously have programming for those five literacies that are basic to the community and their needs.”

“It’s something that, after we got the initial gold star a few years ago, and to maintain it, it shows the importance of what we’re doing,” Powell said. “It’s an honor to keep doing what we’re doing.”

The Tyrone-Snyder Public Library has “a ton of programs for kids,” Powell said, adding that “storytime is really popular.”

“Normal child story time helps with basic literacy and gives children the love of reading,” Powell said. “We have workshops throughout the year based on different financial issues. There are workshops for all ages.”

There are local history nights that allow Tyrone residents to come together and discuss local history “a few times a year” as well, Powell said.

“There’s a monthly veteran’s group that meets,” Powell said. “That’s growing and that’s a wonderful resource for vets in our community.”

Powell said the Star Library Program has a platform that enables libraries to track their tasks to ensure they’re meeting gold-level requirements and submitting “different things to prove you’re meeting.”

“You have to do the work,” Powell said.

Joe C., a patron of the Tyrone-Snyder Library for more than 20 years, said he couldn’t live without it.

“I read a lot,” he said.

Joe, who chose not to provide his full last name, said he visits the library every Tuesday to use their internet. He has a computer at home, he said, but no internet. By using the internet at the library, he can better “limit” his time online because he doesn’t “want to overdo it.”

“I come to the library for the book sales and the rummage sales,” Joe said. “The bulletin boards are always interesting to look at.”

When asked what keeps him coming back, Joe said he just loves “everything that’s available.” He’ll spend time “searching the stacks,” adding that his favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy.

“It’s a good place to donate to, when your house gets too full of books,” Joe said. “It’s a great place to be.”

He said he’s come to know a lot of people by spending time at the library and has noticed Powell, the director, “is great with the kids.”

“I used to be a teacher, so I know how important reading is,” Joe said. “(The kids) aren’t quiet, but they’re not supposed to be.”

Powell said it was “an honor” to serve the community.

“It’s really a recognition that we’re here to serve them and meet their needs,” Powell said.

Altoona Area Public Library Director Jennifer Knisely agrees, saying the Gold Star designation “reaffirms our ongoing commitment to fostering a culture of learning and providing resources that empower individuals across our community.”

‘Creative’ staff

The Altoona library has maintained its Gold Star designation since 2017, which Knisely attributes to “creative” staff.

“The staff has done a phenomenal job at embracing those literacies and making sure we offer programming that helps the community,” Knisely said. “They come up with so many innovative ways to make sure people stay connected. It’s definitely not me; it’s definitely the staff.”

For basic literacy, Knisely said the library offers a variety of kids’ programming. For the civic criteria, staff members offer to assist patrons with voter registration when they sign up for a library card and promote the voter registration deadline.

“For health literacy, we’ve been able to host vaccination clinics,” Knisely said. “Sometimes people have barriers to being able to get to their pharmacy for vaccinations. We’re able to host pharmacists here and we’re right on a bus route.”

The Altoona library also has outreach programs to local daycare centers, adult programs such as One-on-One Tech Appointments, the Tool Lending Library, ancestry and hot spot lending.

Meridith Graudons, a direct support professional visiting the library with clients Aiden Ace, Butch Neidig and Kenny Baney, said she goes to the library “three times a week, if not every day.”

“There are so many different things to do,” Graudons said. “It gets you out of the house, especially when it’s cold outside and you can’t go to the park.”

Graudons said they usually come to the library to “hang out,” do crafts, use books, look at the magazines and play board games. She even showed them a photo of herself in her eighth grade yearbook.

A self-described “die-hard library user,” Graudons said she got her library card in seventh grade and that she now uses Libby, a phone app that allows patrons to read their libraries’ ebooks and listen to audio books.

“I just love the library,” Graudons said. “They have a lot of good programs that I feel are underutilized, but that’s probably because people don’t know about them.”

‘High programming’

Cambria County Library Executive Director Ashley Flynn said maintaining their Gold Star designation “speaks to the extremely high programming that our staff has here on a daily basis.”

“We’ve done speed dating for friends for new adults, offering a great way for community members to meet each other in a place that isn’t a bar,” Flynn said. “It can be hard for people in that age group to meet in a safe and organized way.”

Flynn said they also have an active Discord presence for an LGBTQ board game group and a chess club that has “really taken off in the past several months.”

“The woman running (the chess club) must have good marketing because we almost don’t have room for everyone,” Flynn said. “It’s been really well received.”

The library has also had to add multiple sessions of the same storytime class, and they still have waitlists for families to get in. Flynn said classes normally have about six or seven sessions of about 15 kids, but mom, dad and grandma might show up as well. If the class is in the evening, they might also include older siblings.

The storytime curriculum is “pretty well developed” in how it involves the adults in attendance, Flynn said, as it teaches them how to teach early literacy, sign language, fine motor skills with crafts, gross motor skills and baby sign language.

“It’s amazing to see,” Flynn said of baby sign language. “It takes what can be a really negative experience for the parents when the baby is crying and (the parents) don’t know what they want, (the baby) can communicate their needs.”

Joyce Homan, Cambria County Library reference supervisor, said they’ve maintained their Gold Star status since 2019.

“One of the programs that I’m most excited about is the Adulting 101 program,” Homan said.

The program helps young adults who have just graduated improve upon a variety of skills. During the program’s first meeting, Homan said they came up with a list of skills they wanted to learn that included things like how to buy a house, write checks, investing, emotional regulation, how to maintain relationships and how to not experience the “fear of missing out” while scrolling social media.

“Adulting 101 – that sort of touched on all of the literacies,” Homan said.

The library also offers vision screenings and works with the Center for Population Health and the Cambria County Health and Welfare Council.

“Literacy is woven into a lot of what we do,” Homan said. “We’re trying, our community is so important to us.”

Homan said after the pandemic, they knew people needed a space to get together and get to know each other. Programs could have as few as five or six attendees or be a “full house.”

“Especially after COVID, a lot of people struggled and people are tentatively trying to get out,” Homan said. “We’re trying to provide a third space for people.”

Homan said it hasn’t been a solo effort.

“I’m so proud of it,” Homan said. “I feel like it’s such a group effort and that we have such a commitment to our patrons. We want to make a difference in our community.”

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.