Information on:

Crafton Public Library

140 Bradford Avenue
412-922-6877

The Crafton Public Library was founded in 1936 by the Crafton Women's Club. Book and money donations were solicited and the library opened its doors in a room at the 1st Ward School on January 25, 1937. In February, 1937, in an article praising the library, a call was made for a community center for Crafton. Some time later, needing more room, the library was moved to a room in the Borough Building. In 1947, Miss Margaret Riley was the librarian. From 1949-1950, the library registered over 4500 people for cards and had a circulation of approximately 15,000. From 1951-1952, Margaret Wood was the librarian. Mrs. Margaret Broglie came on board in 1953 as Assistant and was appointed Librarian in 1955. On February 21, 1959, she oversaw a move to quarters at 49 Station Street, and in 1961 successfully applied for State Aided Status for the library.

On July 21 of 1971, the library moved to 70 East Crafton Avenue and remained there until 1996. Mrs. Broglie retired in 1991 and Nancy Eardley was hired for the position. In April of 1993, Borough Council bought the Hultman Building adjacent to the Borough Building and with the help of a Keystone Grant from the State Library began renovating it for a library and Community Center. The library moved into its new quarters in 1996. Jayme Gardner, Denise Brna and April Karbowsky all had short sojourns as librarian between 1998 and January of 2003 when Kathy Robinson was appointed librarian. The library is a full member of the Allegheny County Library Association, a federated library system and fully participates in the EINetwork, which provides an Integrated Library System shared by all public libraries in ACLA, and public access computers. As a member of ACLA and a State-Aided Library, the Crafton Public Library is eligible for Allegheny Regional Asset District funds distributed by ACLA. With the additional financial support and the impetus of new quarters, the library has experienced steadily rising circulation and usage. A children's librarian has been added to the staff and runs the very successful summer reading programs and provides story times for the community's young.


Crafton Public Library is not affiliated with AmericanTowns Media

Photos