“Communities matter @ your Library,” this year’s theme for the American Library Association National Library Week, is demonstrated daily in all of our Libraries. This celebration is coupled with PA Forward: Pennsylvania Libraries, an initiative that highlights the many roles libraries play in people’s lives and demonstrates the assistance offered by librarians and staff.

Through PA Forward, academic, school and public libraries across the Commonwealth seek to empower Pennsylvanians with the skills and knowledge they will need to succeed. PA Forward is also designed to recognize the library’s role in the community within the context of five essential literacies: basic literacy, information literacy, civic and social literacy, health literacy and financial literacy. Our libraries can help solve some of Pennsylvania’s biggest economic and social challenges, thus ensuring that our communities matter.

“Penn State’s University Libraries are pleased to participate in National Library Week and PA Forward,” said Barbara I. Dewey, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications.

In our role as an academic as well as state resources library, we are here for the community and its residents, whether they are searching for medical information, job information, an author or more.