Parkland Community Library:
A PA Forward Gold Star Library

Gold Star Library Since 2018

Parkland Community Library is a Gold Star Library with the PA Forward Star Program. PCL has maintained the Gold Status by participating in the Pennsylvania Library Association initiative, PA Forward. This program encourages libraries to plan classes and events around the Five Literacies and develop partnerships with outside organizations.

What is PA Forward?

PA Forward is a new Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) initiative. It was created to voice what the library community already knows and what other states nationwide are also recognizing: With the proper support, libraries are ideally positioned to become the community centers of information, technology, and learning that will fuel educational and economic opportunities for all citizens.

PA Forward isn’t about books and computers—it’s about people. We at the Parkland Community Library have taken steps to engrain this and the other ideals laid out by the PA Forward initiative into everything we do. We’ve demonstrated this by reaching the highest benchmarks established by PaLA through the Star Program. We will continue to exceed and maintain our Gold Star status well into the future!

What is a PA Forward Gold Star Library?

Before 2018, PCL was awarded Bronze and Silver Star status in the five literacy categories. We have fully integrated our programming curriculum into the initiative with a commitment to providing the programming that fuels the diverse program. These five literacies are Basic, Information, Civic and Social, Health, and Financial. By providing programming to meet these criteria, PCL has once again earned the status of Gold Star in the PA Forward Star Libraries Program. This program aims to center the library to become a community center of information, technology, and learning that will fuel our community’s educational and economic opportunities for all.

Parkland Community Library strives to raise awareness of its events and offerings, which help our patrons improve their command of these five types of literacy—literacies essential to tremendous success in all vital life roles: as students, parents, employees, consumers, and citizens. 

Why is PA Forward Important to Pennsylvania?

Libraries are no longer just buildings that house books. Today’s libraries are agile institutions serving real-life needs. They hold the key to powering progress and elevating the quality of life in Pennsylvania by fueling the knowledge essential to success: Basic Literacy, Information Literacy, Civic and Social Literacy, Health Literacy, and Financial Literacy. These are known as the Five Literacies.

PA Forward will make library services available for all Pennsylvania citizens; strengthen state-supported library services and leverage greater local and private support; have an integrated library system that will not only lower local costs but improve resource-sharing for citizens; provide more databases at a lower cost and through a better statewide delivery system; bolster the recognized link between library service and workforce development; and raise the profile and importance of libraries and librarians.

What Are Some Ways the Five Literacies Help Me as a PCL Patron?