New Northern Tier Library branch coming to Pine Community Center

Another reason to visit the Pine Community Center is on the way.

Northern Tier Regional Library is in the process of establishing a new branch at the multipurpose building, with the grand opening scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 14.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better location,” Ken Knapp, library board vice president, said.

He was serving as a Pine supervisor in 1996, when a new library in neighboring Richland was in the process of being built, and advocated for his township joining what became Northern Tier.

“One of the requirements of the Pine board at the time was that we wanted some type of presence,” he said, and so a township library site was set up at Pine-Richland High School. “That worked really well for a period of time. We had a lot of public usage happening in that school early on. But schools now, people don’t perceive them as being open to the public.”

Library director Diane Illis acknowledged the issues associated with the location.

“As things changed and security for schools changed, it became harder and harder to bring people in,” she said. “We just closed down there in May, and we still operated it as a public library four afternoons a week. But the problem was that people didn’t recognize they could come in. With Pine having a community center, it makes a lot more sense for us to be there.”

Pine’s current supervisors agree.

“This has been something that all of the board has been behind, and we’re just happy to see it all come to fruition,” Audrey Mackie, who chairs the board, said. “I think it fits in with the township’s vision to offer all sorts of dynamic programming for our residents. And now, by having the library have an official branch within the Pine Community Center, we are truly able to reach our full community through this facility.”

Inside the center, the branch’s location will be near the registration service desk on the top floor.

“The room we’re going to have our library in has windows on two sides to look out over the park,” Illis said. “It’s very clean and bright, white shelves and lots of open space. And what we’re doing is concentrating on doing a lot of stuff for children and for seniors, because those are the two groups we’ve had the most traction with at the Pine Community Center.”

In anticipation of the new venue, Northern Tier launched programming at the center last year with well-received activities including the Pine Needles group for yarn enthusiasts and American Mahjong for game players.

“Libraries very much serve children as a demographic, but what people don’t realize is that libraries are very important to the retired community, the senior community,” Knapp said. “And that’s already been represented in what we’ve seen so far.”

Furnishings for the branch are paid for by a 2023 supplemental grant from the Allegheny Regional Asset District, which is funded by the county’s 1% sales tax. And this year, RAD provided money for new computers throughout the Allegheny County Library Association system.

“They deserve the kudos for that,” Illis said. “To open a new branch in the middle of the year, it’s nice to have that money so we can do it and do it right, and it’s not going to impact my operating budget.”

Along with a collection of books and a variety of programming, the community center location will offer access to resources at libraries across the county, from traditional hardbound volumes and paperback to digital media such as eBooks.

“The possibilities are endless,” Knapp said. “So we’re quite excited that we’re finally going to get what I think will be a fully utilized branch in Pine.”

For more information, visit northerntierlibrary.org and twp.pine.pa.us/422/Pine-Community-Center.