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‘Rediscover Your Library’ at Upper St. Clair open house

By Harry Funk 3 min read
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Friends of the Library of Upper St. Clair financially supports the purchase of items such as play-to-learn sets in the children’s library.

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Access guides to the “neighborhoods” in the adult nonfiction room at Upper St. Clair Township Library

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Visit the library Oct. 2.

With a new concept and accompanying floor plan for the new adult nonfiction room at Upper St. Clair Township Library, director Helen Palascak was eager to show off the space with an open house.

“The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there are so many new things happening in the library that we wanted to highlight,” she said, “everything that people can use in terms of resources, both adults and kids.”

And so came the concept for the Rediscover Your Library Open House at Upper St. Clair Township Library, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Staff members will conduct tours of renovated areas, demonstrate the latest in library technology and answer questions about what’s been occurring lately.

For example, youngsters and their parents will notice some changes on the upper floor.

“The children’s library had some new flooring put down this summer. There is a new circulation desk upstairs, and they have created a new area with STEM-related activities,” Palascak said about play-to-learn materials emphasizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Purchasing such specialized items often is beyond the parameters of the library’s budget.

“We buy children’s books. We buy children’s audios,” Palascak explained. “But where do all of these children’s multimedia activities sets come in? The Friends have been very active in supporting that.”

Members of the nonprofit Friends of the Library of Upper St. Clair, formed in 1957 as a fundraising arm, will attend the open house to speak about their activities, offer discounts on books they have for sale and do some recruiting.

“They need help,” Palascak said. “People donate books to us every day, and they need to be sorted and organized: What books can we put on the kids’ floor? What books will the friends sell? It takes a lot of work to manage that.”

As far as books for borrowing, information will be available during the open house about a new service the library is offering, Select Reads.

“It’s like having your personal librarian,” Palascak explained. “You say, ‘I like this, this and this,’ and Select Reads will send you email alerts when that type of material is added to the library collection.”

Also, a weekly newsletter lists all the new books, divided by category, giving patrons a better idea of what is available and what they can reserve.

Of course, the open house also will focus on the adult nonfiction space, which now groups materials by “neighborhood” instead of relying on the traditional Dewey Decimal System, in a way that Palascak hopes will encourage patrons to try something new.

“The nonfiction room is all about connecting people with books that they didn’t even know they wanted until they saw them on display,” she said.

At the same time, she and other staff members study circulation data to help determine what types of materials are in demand in Upper St. Clair.

“We’re really focused on purchasing what our residents want to have in our library.”

To register for the Rediscover Your Library Open House, visit www.twpusc.org/library/library-home.

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