All Ages

April is Citizen Science Month

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April is Citizen Science Month! Peters Township Public Library is participating in a special citizen science project that is viewing clouds from above and below.

Help NASA by observing clouds and logging your observations using a free and easy-to-use app on a smartphone or tablet – photograph clouds, record sky observations, and compare them with NASA satellite images. Watch this short video that shows you how to get started!

Come to the library the week of April 12 to 17 to pick up your free Citizen Science Cloud Kit from the display upstairs near the Reference Desk. These kits have materials and information for citizen scientists of all ages.

Meet Sydney at the picnic tables outside the library at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 12 to learn how you can help NASA track clouds. Bring your phone or tablet and download the GLOBE Observer App to get started. Participants will also receive our Citizen Science Cloud Kit with more information about clouds. If it rains, we will plan for Tuesday, April 13, 10 to 10:30 a.m.

Citizen science engages volunteers in the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists. Through the GLOBE Observer app, citizen scientists of all ages can learn more about clouds and participate in NASA science. Formal training in science is not required to participate and citizen scientists of all ages are welcome.

Want to learn more about GLOBE Observer and Clouds?
For more information about this project, visit The Globe Program.

More resources:

Cloud Activities for younger learners

Cloud-related books and videos

The library will reopen March 1, 2021 for limited in-person services

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The Peters Township Public Library is reopening for limited in-person services at this time. Masks are required for everyone over age 2 in the building. All areas in the library are open for browsing for books. You may check out materials inside the library at the main desk on the 1st floor. There are no fines for overdue materials. The public computers are not available at this time. Other areas unavailable include the Family Activity Center, Cafe Lee, and Conference/Meeting/Reading Rooms. Tutoring and individual study are not permitted. The daily book sale is suspended, and we are unable to accept book donations. No in-person programming at this time. Library volunteers have not been contacted to help.

Curbside Pickup Service will still be available Monday through Saturday during library hours. Please place your requests online for all items in the WAGGIN catalog. When you receive an email/text/phone call that your items are available, drive to the library, and park in any designated Curbside Pickup space in front of the building. Call 724.941.9430 #1 when you arrive. Library staff will deliver your items in a plastic bag to the trunk of your car.

 

Change in library services effective Monday, Nov. 30

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Dear PT Library Community,
Based on the Pennsylvania Department of Health recent stay at home advisory, we are taking the following actions to protect our community until further notice:

The library building will be open to the public on Wednesday, Nov. 25 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 and Saturday, Nov. 28 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The library building WILL CLOSE TO THE PUBLIC beginning Monday, Nov. 30. Library Staff will continue to work in the building to provide library materials and remote services Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This change will remain in effect until further notice.

Curbside Pickup Service will be available Monday through Saturday during library staff hours with an extended 3-week loan period. Please place your requests online for all items in the WAGGIN catalog. When you receive an email/text/phone call that your items are available, drive to the library, and park in any designated Curbside Pickup space in front of the building. Call 724.941.9430 #1 when you arrive. Library staff will deliver your items in a plastic bag to the trunk of your car.

Curbside Pickup Service will be available to pick up kits for Adult/Youth Services programming. After you register for a program, you will receive an email with pick up directions when your kit is ready.

We will be accepting returns. You can place library materials in a plastic bag in the black RETURNS bins located at the library front entrance during library staff hours. The outside Book Drop will be open when library staff is not in the building. We quarantine all returns for 72 hours.

We are not accepting book donations, meeting room applications, or scheduling any library volunteers at this time.

The library computers will not be available during this time.

We will continue to offer programs virtually. We will announce these programs through our library newsletter (subscribe here), on the library Events Calendar, and the Peters Township Public Library Facebook page. Visit the library’s YouTube Channel for playlists which include all of our virtual programs. Virtual classes and programs will also be available via Zoom.

If you have questions, please email us at ptlib@ptlibrary.org.

Please check your email for further updates about reopening the library building and in-person library services. We appreciate your patience and look forward to safely serving you soon.

Lacey Love, Library Director

Meet the PTPL WAGGIN Chat Team!

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For two years, the library has participated in a free resource for all residents of Pennsylvania called Chat with a Librarian. Anyone can get accurate, unbiased information online from a real librarian 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, our staff joined with librarians and paraprofessionals from across the WAGGIN network to form a new service called WAGGIN Chat, which would offer personalized service to all residents of Washington, Fayette, and Greene Counties.

As part of the Pennsylvania Chat with a Librarian service, residents are still able to receive 24-7 reference and research help. On Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., WAGGIN staff is working online to answer your questions directly, either through live chat or via an email question form.  Whether you need help with homework, genealogy resources, or how to find a business, visit waggin.org/chat. There you can submit your question online for a quick response.

Eight PTPL staff members received training to offer this new chat service. In addition to their regular duties, they help remote library users with questions throughout the day. Coordinated by Ed Wolf, PTPL Information Technology and Reference Librarian, the group has been very successful.  They will serve as a best practices model for other libraries in the state as they set up their chat participation.

Our local staff is available to help via chat during library hours. You can use this service if our library is not open, but understand you will be communicating with a Pennsylvanian librarian who does not work locally. They will not be able to answer questions about overdue materials, renewals, or other account-specific activity. For those types of individualized questions, you can submit your question to  www.waggin.org/email-us.

Celebrate Your Right to Read!

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Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in both libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unpopular or challenging to their personal beliefs.

Banned Books Week was first launched in the 1980s and has grown to reach over 2 billion readers every year. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. Having these conversations and sharing this information is important. We hope that you will join us from September 27 through October 3 in exploring some of the diverse books that have been challenged in recent years. Please watch the video below created by PT Library staff to learn more!

Visit our Banned Books Display in the Main Lobby and take a few books with you to read! Learn more about Banned Books Week on these websites:

Banned Books Display

 

Donations Keep Local History Room Thriving

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Preserving local history has been a goal of the Peters Township Public Library since its founding over 60 years ago. To go beyond clipping newspapers, in early 2003 the library staff began an Oral History Project with funding from Taste of the Township. The goal was to record and preserve the history of the township through audio interviews with past and present residents.

Community Day promotional materialsThe library worked with the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center Oral History Service Department to conduct the interviews. By April 2004, the collaboration had produced twenty-two interviews. They reflected various facets of the history of Peters Township – farm life, education, government, recreation, transportation, churches, and industry. Next, the interviews were transcribed, edited, printed, bound, and added to the library’s Local History collection. You can search the library catalog for “Life in Peters Township: an oral history project” and request any of the bound volumes to check out and enjoy.

Peters-Township NewsIn the spring of 2008, a two-story addition expanded the building with space for a Local History Room on the second floor. Over the past 12 years, the room has acquired copies of the bound oral history interviews and many photographs and documents received from various donors. Along with several volunteers, Head Reference Librarian Margaret Deitzer and Information Technology Librarian Ed Wolf continue preserving the donations that tell the story of the township from the late 1700s to present.

Carolyn Friedrich and Ed WOld with historical donationsLast year The Peters Township Library Foundation committed to channeling contributions received from the Washington County Community Foundation’s Day of Giving toward the library’s local history efforts. This donation supported the ongoing work of library staff and archivist Carolyn Friedrich to make the collection searchable from anywhere in the world.

Mr and Mrs Ed LybargerA recent donation from Edward and Janis Lybarger added extraordinary resources to the collections. The Lybarger family connection to the library began in the 1950s with his mother, Alberta Myers Lybarger. As president of the Women’s Club of Peters Township, her efforts helped to make the dream of a community library for the township become a reality. Their new donations cover topics like local schools, churches, civic organizations, businesses, and the development of the library through blueprints, photographs, newspapers, and artifacts. The library welcomes items like these to continue to document the past and present growth of Peters Township. Please call the library at 724.941.9430 for more information.

Line drawing of the Peters Township Public LibraryThe Lybargers have also financially supported The Peters Township Library Foundation, which continues to support this archival work, covering the costs of making this collection accessible to the public. Is preserving Peters Township history important to you? The WCCF Day of Giving is Thursday, September 10, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Your online donation that day to The Peters Township Library Foundation continues to support our efforts to preserve, arrange, scan, digitize, and store our growing collection of Peters Township Local History. Your tax-deductible gift will also benefit programming and resources not covered by the library’s operating budget. AND you will help us become eligible for added support from the WCCF’s $100,000 bonus pool. For more information, visit the WCCF Day of Giving web site.