The new director of the North Versailles Public Library, Michele Brancato, has been active in the North Versailles community for most of her life. Now she wants to make sure the library grows as an integral part of her home town.
At the top of her to-do list, however, is encouraging North Versailles Township to build a new library. In September 2023, the library lost its home near the municipal complex on Greensburg Pike when the building was condemned. It moved to a storefront in the Great Valley Shopping Center. In July, the library relocated again to space in the Praise Assembly of God church, 245 Foster Road.
The church has been a great host, Brancato told the Allegheny East Business Network on Nov. 5, but the vision is a new building with a full-fledged community center, she said. There are some preliminary plans, she said, but nothing has been finalize. The library is looking for grant money for the project.
In the meantime, Brancato hopes to add as many community programs and activities as she can, given the limited space. The libary has partnered with the Walmart in North Versailles to provide families in need with turkeys and other ingredients for a full Thanksgiving dinner.
The library is part of the Allegheny County Library Association, which means library patrons have access to books, CDs and other materials that are circulated among all the county libraries. For example, if a book isn’t available in North Versailles, it can be sent by one of the other libraries in the system.
It costs nothing to become a library card holder. The library also has internet-enabled computers available to anyone, and there are regular book clubs and activities for children.
