Tae Cannon, 9, loves to read so much that she takes books with her to Kennywood Park to peruse while she stands in line waiting to ride.

So it's easy to understand why her excitement over the construction Monday of the first library at her school, Propel Homestead, was off the charts.

"I just love to read," said Tae, a fourth-grader. "I read everything, every day, everywhere."

And now, she'll be able to read at her school in the new library, supplied by Target stores, or in one of the reading nooks that Target employee volunteers helped to establish in the corners of the school.

Propel Homestead, a charter school for about 400 students in grades K-8, was one of 23 schools chosen from around the country by the retailer this year to receive a school library or a library makeover.

It is the only school in the area, according to Bill Hall, a vice president in Target's regional office in Albany, N.Y. Target started the project this year.

In addition to Mr. Hall and others from the company's corporate staff, 70 volunteers who are employees of local stores -- including West Mifflin, The Waterfront, Butler and Washington -- helped to build the library and reading nooks Monday. They also helped to decorate the school with literary-themed display cases.

Volunteers worked along with some students from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., painting walls, building bookshelves, lugging beanbag chairs into the library and helping students with artwork to decorate the reading nooks and display cases. Others conducted literacy drills and games with students in classrooms.

The color scheme for the library: the school colors of yellow and blue. Libraries are designed by the design staff for Target stores.

To qualify for the library building project, schools must have a high percentage of students from low-income families; have no library or one in dire need of improvement; not be slated to close within the next two to three years; and be near Target stores.

At Propel Homestead, 75 percent of the students quality for free or reduced-price lunches. The school, which had no library, sits just blocks away from the Target store at The Waterfront.

Books for the new library were collected by store volunteers and by Pittsburgh Cares, which collaborated on the building project. Pittsburgh Cares works regularly with Propel students and nominated the school for the program, Executive Director Dan Horgan said.

Another partner in the project is First Book, a national nonprofit organization that provides books to children from low-income families.

There will be about 3.000 books in the library to start, ranging from reference books and encyclopedias to novels, Mr. Hall said.

"We really want it to be a place to teach the value of reading," Mr. Hall said.

Megan Newsome, literacy coach at Propel Homestead, said she is as enthused as the students about the library.

"We want to have resources where they can go in and look things up in books and learn how to find information," she said. "We don't just want people who know how to Google things on the Internet and come up with 10,000 hits and not know what information is accurate."

Marcia Glenn, 13 and in the eighth grade, said the new library will be "the place where I am going to spend the most time."

In addition, she said, she's looking forward to checking out "chapter books" and "realistic novels," especially those that chronicle teenage life.

"I just can't wait. I am so excited about this," she said.