Herr Memorial Library gets grant for accessible, inclusive upgrades

Herr Memorial Library in Mifflinburg won a $10,000 grant that is expected to change how people with mobility, vision and neurodivergent disabilities move through the building and use its services. Library director Sandy Hornberger said the money is meant to make the library easier to navigate, more welcoming and more useful for residents who may not have many nearby options for specialized support.

Some of the most visible changes are already in place, including a new circulation desk and an expanded children’s section near the front door. Hornberger said the grant will help push that work further, with plans for two sensory rooms, one for children and one for teens, so visitors who need a quieter, more controlled environment can still spend time at the library comfortably. She also wants to use part of the money for staff training and for books and other resources tied to autism, decoding and special skills, turning the grant into both a building improvement and a service upgrade.

Hornberger said she reached out to the Columbia Snyder Montour Union System office of behavioral health and developmental services while shaping the project and learned that some of the local need involves adults with neurodivergent disorders, not just children. That matters in a place like Mifflinburg, where a single public library can serve as one of the few low-cost, judgment-free spaces for residents to gather, learn and take part in programming that feels safe and accessible.

Before the library spends the money, Hornberger said it will hold a community meeting in August to hear directly from residents about disability-related needs. The American Library Association requires that kind of input session as part of its Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities initiative, which limits eligibility to libraries in communities of 25,000 or fewer that are at least five miles from an urbanized area. In its fourth and final round, the program awarded $3.5 million to 300 libraries, including 250 grants of $10,000 and 50 grants of $20,000.

Herr Memorial Library, at 500 Market Street, is part of the Union County Library System, which lists it as offering free public access to materials, programs and services and says it is open six days a week. The new grant follows another recent improvement effort at the library, where an $11,000 grant from the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania funded a lower circulation desk, accessibility upgrades, new flooring, reorganized collections and a dedicated room for children’s DVDs, with work expected to be completed by December 2025. In Mifflinburg, where the borough’s population is 3,473 and Union County’s 2020 census population was 42,681, those changes carry outsized weight for families, students and older adults who depend on the library as a central public space.