Community Library sets closing date for Tarentum branch

The Tarentum branch of Community Library of Allegheny Valley will be closed by the end of the month.

The library, on Lock Street, will close to the public at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, library Director Kathy Firestone said.

Books and furnishings will be sold at the library March 19-21. Details will be announced later.

The library’s board of directors voted in December to close the branch. In a statement, the board said the closing was “a business decision based on use and the escalating costs of operating the site.”

Firestone said the The Community Library of Allegheny Valley’s Harrison branch will continue to serve Harrison, Brackenridge, Tarentum, Fawn, East Deer and Frazer.

Tarentum contributes $8,000 annually to the library in quarterly payments, council President Scott Dadowski said. He said the borough has not been notified of the closing date and will discuss the future of its contribution when it next meets in March.

“As a council, we are sad to see the library closed,” he said. “We’re also open to having a discussion with them.”

The library celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2018. It was formed in Tarentum by a group of concerned citizens in 1923, after an earlier reading room had lasted only a few years.

First known as the Tarentum Public Library, the name was changed to Community Library of Allegheny Valley in 1958. The Harrison branch opened on Broadview Boulevard in 1998.

Hours at the Tarentum branch were reduced beginning in 2019.

While eclipsed in size by the Harrison branch, the Tarentum location was known for its local history and genealogy resources.

Firestone said the branch’s local history department will be moved to Harrison. An opening will be announced when the move is finished.

The “Who Knew” series held in Tarentum will be continued in Harrison “once we get reorganized,” Firestone said.

“We are looking to expand local history programming,” she said. “Again, we have to settle in.”

All off-site programming in Tarentum will continue, Firestone said. That programming includes story times at day cares and the Highlands Family Center.

The Tarentum library’s last day will include a celebration for longtime employee Ronda Dibas, who is retiring, Firestone said.

Firestone said Dibas has been a desk clerk at the library since November 2001.

“We will have refreshments at the Tarentum library from noon to 3 for anyone who wishes to stop in with best wishes for Ronda,” Firestone said.