July 2021
Libraries: Your Community Connectors
Pennsylvania PBS stations collaborate with libraries throughout the Commonwealth all year long. Libraries offer a variety of programs and events to engage learners of all ages - just like your local Pennsylvania PBS station!
 
This summer, we are talking with our library partners to learn how libraries serve as a community connector. For our latest installment, we sat down with librarians from Grove Family Library in Franklin County and Easton Area Public Library in Northampton County.
"My favorite part of my job is the impact I have on the people that I interact with everyday. Whether it's finding them the perfect book, or helping them find a job. We do so much for the community and feel that we're the heartbeat of the community in many ways."
-Erin Morrow, Adult Services Coordinator, Easton Area Public Library
The Easton Area Public Library (EAPL), serves over 27,000 residents of the City of Easton and is known as a dedicated community partner in this part of the Lehigh Valley.

The EAPL is home to intriguing local history like the Easton Flag, genealogy resources and yearbooks. A wide array of other materials including museum passes and mobile hotspots are available too!

 
In this video, we learn more from Erin Morrow, the Adult Services Coordinator at Easton Area Public Library.
"We love helping people. We love seeing people happy and leaving with what they need and coming together to get things done."
-Joan Peiffer, Director, Grove Family Library
Grove Family Library is a rural/suburban area library located between historic Chambersburg and Gettysburg, PA and is part of the Franklin County Library System.
 
In this video, we spoke with Joan Peiffer, Director at Grove Family Library and Grove Family Library's Youth Services Coordinator, Melanie Verlin.
 
If you live in Franklin County or visit a library that is located in it, take a moment to fill out the Franklin County Library System's 2021 Community Information Survey. Your input is essential to making FCLS libraries better.
Check out the other videos in our "Libraries: Your Community Connectors" series. Be sure to see what activities your local library has to offer this summer!
More Library Fun with WQED and WHYY
Library Explorers is a new program from WQED that encourages children to explore libraries virtually. 14 libraries in 6 counties are featured in videos that include beloved PBS KIDS characters like Daniel Tiger, Curious George, and many others. Fun activities and prizes await Library Explorers!

"We eliminated the barrier of time and travel because all of these spaces can be accessed through the power of the internet”.
-Liz Kostandinu, Library Explorers Program Lead


WHYY has teamed up with the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation to bring you "Little Library Story Time". Every Thursday at Tacony Creek Park in Philadelphia, enjoy reading sessions with your children as well as hands on art and literacy activities. The program has been running since July 8th and will conclude on August 12th so be sure to check it out if you are in the Philadelphia area!

WQLN, PBS39 and WPSU provide Summer Fun at Camp!
While the pandemic put a real damper on summertime fun last year, local Pennsylvania PBS stations have taken the opportunity to provide children with the summer camp experience they have been waiting for!
Happy campers show off their certificates from WQLN's Summer Coding Camp program.
Coding exercises, computational thinking practice, and good old-fashioned fun. That is what a group of 1st to 3rd graders had in store at WQLN’s coding summer camp. The ScratchJr Summer Camp was designed to teach young learners about the principles of computer coding in a fun and engaging way.
PBS39 presented “Summer Series” from June 8th through July 29th. Sessions for children from ages 2-8 were offered in English and Spanish, and were engaging and educational - leaving young learners wanting to learn more about a wide range of topics!
Cassie, Roslyn, and Reid making a fruit salad fit for an African Hornbill
WPSU presents “Virtual Summer Camp 2021”, which continues through August 6. WPSU takes camp goers around the world, exploring all seven continents, focusing on one continent per week with a themed activity related to the continent.
Rising to the Occasion: WQED in the Time of COVID
This year, WQED’s annual community report is unconventional, but so was/is the time in which we live. The interactive online report provides an overview of WQED’s response to the pandemic through its community programming and its expanded educational initiatives while schools were closed.
 
Deborah Acklin, WQED President & CEO said, “Everything we did, at warp speed, was to respond to the needs of our community during this difficult time."
 
Featured alongside the report is a mini-documentary covering WQED’s history produced by renowned public broadcasting producer, Rick Sebak. Appropriately titled, A Very Quick History of an Unusual Television Station, the film covers the history of WQED from its humble beginnings in 1954 to the present day. 
Standards-aligned learning and fun continues in August!
Pennsylvania PBS - Who We Are

Pennsylvania PBS (PA PBS) is the collective name for seven public media organizations located throughout the Commonwealth.


Our Vision

Inspired and empowered by its partners, Pennsylvania PBS will be a keystone in the civic, educational and cultural fabric of the Commonwealth.

Our Mission

To leverage, unify and amplify the education mission and collective impact of the 7 Pennsylvania PBS stations in the lives of all Pennsylvanians.

Pennsylvania PBS reaches over 12.4 million Pennsylvanians in large, diverse, rural and under-served communities.

Our Partners

PBS | NPR | APTS | 50 State