PA Forward® & Zelienople Area Public Library

The Zelienople Area Public Library is proud to be part of the the PA Forward® Initiative and earned its silver stars in Basic Literacy Programming, Civil and Social Literacy Programming and Financial Literacy and its bronze star in core requirements.  PA Forward® is an initiative from the Pennsylvania Library Association with the goal of helping all Pennsylvania citizens reach their full potential.  The program highlights five core literacies and encourages public libraries to conduct programming for all ages focusing on basic literacy, information literacy, civic and social literacy, health literacy and financial literacy. Check back on our progress as your Library attempts to earn silver stars in each literacy category and finally a gold star rating.

The Pennsylvania Library Association’s 21st Century Literacies Initiative, PA Forward®, was conceived to give voice to what the library community already knows, and what other states throughout the nation are also recognizing:

With the right support, libraries are ideally positioned to become the community centers of information, technology, and learning that will fuel educational and economic opportunity for all of our citizens.

PA Forward® is an initiative of the Pennsylvania Library Association that highlights libraries’ role in moving Pennsylvania forward. Libraries are key to powering progress, elevating the quality of life by fueling the types of knowledge essential to its success.  

This goal dovetails nicely with our Library’s mission:

To afford people of all ages a community center dedicated to life long learning, enjoyment and discovery.

And our vision statement:  

The library seeks to fulfill its mission by acquiring and maintaining comprehensive resources and by adapting to the needs of the community.

As we work toward achieving our stars you will see the different literacy logos displayed on flyers, social media posts and book displays.  Thank you for supporting this program which benefits us all.  

Here are some of the events that helped us earn our bronze star and our first three silver stars: 

  • Sign Language Class in partnership with the Rose E. Schneider YMCA
  • Civic and Social Literacy Events for our Community         
  • Basic Literacy Display in the Jennifer Adham Memorial Children’s Library   
  • Pages and Paws, Read with the Animals Program for Children in cooperation with the Therapets Literacy Service of Animal Friends
  • Civic and Social Literacy Materials Display 
  • “Financial Planning for PA Youth” webinar.   
  • “Truth or Consequences:  evaluating online information” presentation                       

We recently earned our Information Literacy and will now be concentrating on our Health Literacy goals.  If you have something to contribute in these fields please let us know at zaplib@bcfls.org

Learn more about PA Forward®