Contact the Indiana County libraries below to find out about their hours of operation, programs, fees, and services.

724.459.6097 -
FAX: 724.459.6077

724.248.7122

724.541.0769

724.465.8841
724.465.9902 - FAX

724.6398763 - FAX
724.639.9763

113 North Walnut Street
Blairsville, PA 15717

Park Drive
P.O. Box 424
Black Lick, PA 15716

307 Point Street
Suite 2
Saltsburg, PA 15681

www.b-ssd.org/BPLib/

www.indianafreelibrary.org

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

www.picturebookart.org/Home

(Click on image above to go to the site.)

(Click on image above to go to the site.)

One of every 5 people over the age of 15 is illiterate*, yet literacy is of primary importance in today's world. Literacy opens doors of opportunity and understanding that no other skill can provide. The ability to read, write, and understand allows a level of communication that can make a huge difference in every life. Reading is necessary to understand a binding contract or a legal processes. Most modern high-paying jobs require the ability to read and write. And to communicate to anyone over any distance, whether an employer or a pen-pal, a person must have a basic level of literacy, or that effort will fail.

At The Literacy Site, we believe that educating children around the world to be literate is vital to making the world a better place, for them and for everyone else. The dissemination of knowledge and understanding is stymied for those who see the written word as an unsolvable puzzle. With a click a day, you can help fight the spread of illiteracy, and make a tangible difference in your world.

U.S. Literacy Facts**:

A recent study (included in the Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Vol. 2, edited by Susan Neuman and David Dickinson) shows that while in middle income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1, in low-income neighborhoods the ratio is 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children.
Over 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving children from low-income families have no age-appropriate books for their children.
Children from low-income families have been exposed to an average of only 25 hours of one-on-one reading time compared to an average of 1,000 to 1,700 hours for children from middle-class families.
The National Center for Education Statistics' evaluation of No Child Left Behind reading proficiency scores in 2005 found that 36% of all 4th graders scored in the "Below Basic" proficiency level, and 54% of 4th graders eligible for school lunch program scored in the "Below Basic" proficiency level.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, reading skills among middle school students have remained virtually unchanged for 15 years, improving by only two points between 1992 and 2005.

*World literacy statistics from UNESCO

**U.S. literacy statistics from First Book

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