Our Partner:  The Pennsylvania Municipal League

Partner Profile:
The Pennsylvania Municipal League (PML) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization established in 1900 as an advocate for Pennsylvania’s 3rd class cities.  Today, the PML represents participating Pennsylvania cities, townships, town, boroughs and home rule municipalities that all share in the League’s municipal policy interests.

The PML shares their mission with libraries by providing information and resources to their members and municipalities at large.

Resources for Libraries?
The PA Municipal league recently released a civics online eBook entitled “Civics and You: A Guide to PA Local Government.” It is available here: Civics and You eBook

The PA Municipal League asks that libraries help promote this new resource by making it available to the general public by linking to it from library catalogs and websites. To facilitate this process, a MARC record has been created for this publication. The OCLC number is 936376744. Alternatively, the record can be found here: Civics and you MARC record

The PA Municipal League also has a free online certification program called Sustainable Pennsylvania. The Sustainable Pennsylvania Community Certification recognizes local governments in Pennsylvania for deploying the policy and practice of sustainability for their communities’ prosperity.  All of the information gathered is available to the public and links them directly with information about the certified municipality.  Information on Sustainable Pennsylvania can be found here: Sustainable PA

Finally, Gail Markovitz at the PML is happy to help librarians make contacts with local officials to provide programs about what they do, or how citizens can become more involved with their local government.

Which Literacy & Why?
The PML aligns with Civic and Social Literacy by providing resources to enhance the knowledge and skills PA citizens can use to contribute to their community.

How is Pennsylvania Municipal League already working with PaLA?
The PA Municipal League worked with PaLA by asking PA Forward’s Civic and Social Literacy Team to draft a chapter about public libraries and their role in the communi

by Christie Himmelreich, Director Schuylkill Valley Community Library

ty for its eBook “Civics and You: A Guide to PA Local Government.”

The League has also played an active role in PA Forward’s first Civic Literacy Summit in 2014, and is currently helping PaLA to develop plans for a second Civic Literacy Summit scheduled for March 8, 2016 at Dickinson School of Law.

Who to Contact: Gail Markovitz, gmarkovitz@pamunicipalleague.org

Andrea Hartranft, Harrisburg Area Community College
Christie Himmelreich, Schuylkill Valley Community Library
Nicole Husbands, Indian Valley Public Library
Laura Laspee, Clymer Library
Amy Snyder, Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences