April 19, 2007    

Schlow Centre Region Library Honored with Three Statewide Awards

State College, Pa.  – Young children and their families who benefit from Schlow Centre Region Library’s early learning initiatives already know they provide exceptional experiences. Now the library has not just one, but two awards to prove it.

Two of Schlow Library’s programs, Toddler Learning Centre and Mouse Month in Centre County, were recognized by the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) at the 4th annual "Best Practices Awards for Programming and Services to Children under the Age of Six, Their Families and Caregivers". Programs were judged on the basis of creativity, ability to be replicated in similar communities and effectiveness in reaching the target audience.

"Our programs for children and our passion for instilling a love of the library and reading in our youngest patrons are well-known throughout the community," said Elizabeth Allen, director of Schlow Library. "It is wonderful that children’s librarian Anita Ditz and her staff have been recognized by the state library association for their outstanding work."

Schlow Library’s award for Toddler Learning Centre was in the large library division of the category titled Programs That Serve “At-Risk” or Underserved Children under the Age of 6, their Families or Caregivers. In this case the audience includes children who need developmental services as well as those who do not.

The second award was in the category of programs associated with Pennsylvania’s "One Book, Every Young Child" initiative and its showcase book, Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse. Schlow Library’s Mouse Month in Centre County was a broad-based effort geared to making the entire community aware of the importance of early literacy activities and reading aloud. The library involved a wide range of community partners in this successful program.

In addition, PaLA and the Association of Pennsylvania Public Library Systems (APPLS) jointly recognized the Centre County Federation of Public Libraries for creating CentreCountyInfo.org, a comprehensive easily searchable database of Centre County's health and human services organizations. This initiative won a Library Systems Best Practices Award in the category of "Creating Quality of Life". Working with five county-wide organizations, the library federation, led in this initiative by Schlow Centre Region Library, created the CentreCountyInfo.org database with information from more than 300 area organizations, including links to their websites. Use of the website has grown from 802 hits in February 2006 to more than 3,000 hits just six months later.

Said Allen, "Centre County residents can look to their libraries to provide up-to-date information on health and human services, whenever and wherever they need it, thanks to CentreCountyInfo.org."

The Centre County Federation of Public Libraries consists of the following libraries: Aaronsburg Area Public Library, Centre County Library, Centre Hall Area Library, Holt Memorial Library, Schlow Centre Region Library and the Centre County Library Bookmobile. In addition to the Federation, the following organizations have provided support for CentreCountyInfo.org: Centre Connect, Centre County Council for Human Services, Centre Co. Partnership for Community Health, Community Help Centre and Smart-Start Centre County.

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