The mission of the Shamokin-Coal Township Public Library is to provide free, equal and confidential access to materials, information and services in a wide variety of formats to meet the educational, recreational, cultural and social needs of our community and to support lifelong learning.
The Shamokin-Coal Township Public Library is located on the first two floors of the American Legion Building in Shamokin, PA. Our organization has been at its present location of 210 East Independence Street, Shamokin, PA 17872 since 1967.
Until recently, our service area was limited to the City of Shamokin, Coal Township, Shamokin Township, and East Cameron Township. As of July 2021, however, our service area now encompasses the entirety of Northumberland County and its 91,647 residents. This means that anyone (aged 3 and up) living within the Northumberland County can open an account at our library free of charge and gain full access to all circulating materials. To utilize our public computers, however, an individual is not required to be a library card holder to gain access to internet browsers and programs such as Microsoft Word. Printing from the public computers is also a service offered by the library. Black and white prints from the computer are $0.25 a page, color prints are $0.35, black and white photocopies are $0.15, and color copies are $0.35. Once again, to use the public computers or have photocopies made does not require library membership. Wi-Fi access is also freely offered to all those who walk through our doors, just simply ask a staff member at the front desk for the login information. As of 2022, we are also now able to scan physical documents and provide patrons with a digital PDF version. This service is also free of charge.
The Shamokin-Coal Township Public Library offers a wide variety of programming events for patrons of all ages. Every Monday at 10 AM, Preschool Storytime & Movement is held on the second floor. This recurring program includes a story read by the librarian, several songs that include physical movement, a small craft that relates to the day’s selected story, and a snack.
Every summer around the beginning of July, the annual Summer Reading Program takes place and lasts for 6 weeks. This series of programs are held every Wednesday at 10:30 AM and different weeks include guest presenters/speakers, entertainers, and STEM activities. The program also includes an incentive system where children are invited to record the number of minutes/number of pages they have read throughout the previous week. Once certain incentives are reached, children may select books to take home in order to further build their personal home library collection.
Our library also offers programming events for teens and adults. These events include a wide variety of crafts that typically correspond with the season or an upcoming major holiday. Book Bingo is another recurring program offered at the library. At this free event, a winning bingo card gives the winner the chance to pick from a diverse group of books that include everything from the latest fiction titles to nonfiction selections that cover a vast range of topics.
The library also hosts LEGO Club every other week for children in grades K-8. These sessions are typically held on Thursday evenings from 6:00-7:00 PM on the second floor. On a similar note, once a month the library hosts the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum for a special STEM program for ages 6-13. While these are all free events, we do request that children are signed up ahead of time due to some programs only having room/materials for a predetermined number of students.
Shamokin-Coal Township Public Library 