Part of becoming a Star Library is completing core and bonus actions in addition to providing programming that aligns with the literacies. Academic libraries may not always have the freedom to engage in some of the bonus or core actions, and in those cases, you may need to work with PaLA to get creative. Read below to learn more about the actions we completed.
Learn more about the program at the PA Forward Star Library Program website.
In order to earn a Bronze Star, you must complete six core actions in addition to three bonus actions.
Core Actions
We were able to complete almost all of the actions without modification. Our institution prohibits individual departments from having their own social media accounts, so in order to complete this action, our director “liked” the PA Forward page with her personal Facebook account and then took a photo of herself showing that she had liked the page. You can see the photo in our shared folder linked below.
We also submitted information on the first program we decided to brand with PA Forward – our common book program.
We included the PA Forward logo on the following marketing materials:
Bonus Actions
We chose to complete the following bonus actions, which we could do without any modification.
Learn More
Click here to view our Google drive folder.
In order to earn a Silver Star, we had to complete the same core actions for each literacy as well as one additional bonus action for each literacy.
Core Actions
At the time of completing the star actions, our Learning Commons was prohibited from having print displays; thus we displayed event information and the corresponding logos on our digital display screens.
We do not produce any library publications such as newsletters, so we were able to modify this core action and create a library guide with tabs for each literacy.
We do not have social media, but we do have a library news page that we update with events and programs happening in the Learning Commons; the news page was allowed as a substitute for social media.
Bonus Actions
We chose the following five bonus actions, which we could complete without modification.
Learn More
Click here to view our Google drive folder.
In order to earn a Gold Star, the library must complete four additional bonus actions and have at least one staff member be a member of PaLA. We chose the following bonus actions which we could do with minimal or with no modification.
Learn More
Click here to view our Google drive folder.