Reading, PA – Friday, January 31, 2025 – To raise awareness of the many ways that public libraries assist people in living healthy, productive lives, RPL proudly supports the PA Forward initiative of the Pennsylvania Library Association. PA Forward’s mission is to make Pennsylvanians aware that libraries have increasingly become community centers, resource sharing hotspots, and invaluable connections to information beyond books on a shelf. 

PA Forward has identified the following five literacies as areas where libraries are well positioned to positively impact patrons’ lives: basic, information, civic and social, health, and financial.

In conformance to the financial literacy component of these, five literacies. Reading Public Library is proud to present a Financial Literacy Program by Valerie Garcia, Financial Wellness Officer from Vision Credit Union, on March 4, 2025, at 3:00 PM at the Reading Public Library Main Branch.

In 2017, PA Forward introduced the Star Library Program, which gives libraries the opportunity to submit to a state-appointed committee of peers evidence of their commitment to the Five Literacies in their program calendar. This three-tiered process awards bronze, silver, and gold level recognition. Reading Public Library is actively working to retain their gold level status with program and marketing efforts highlighting the many ways the library prepares people to succeed in school, the workforce, and their personal lives.