CSL’s Resource Kit Collection Continues to Grow with New Technology Kits

The Colorado State Library is delighted to announce the roll out of two new technology resource kits. The Let’s Experience It! Virtual Reality Kit and the Let’s Share! Storytelling Kit were both designed to put new and reimagined tech in the hands of library staff to expand programming, build capacity and expertise, and engage your community in new and thoughtful ways. Keep reading to learn more about the new kits, and how to borrow them.

Let’s Experience It! CSL Virtual Reality Kit

As we leave the twenty-tens behind and embark on the twenties, virtual reality (VR) technology has shown itself to be the new frontier for media consumption, gaming, education – and beyond. In the new Virtual Reality Technology Kit, we have included an Oculus Go headset, preloaded with a variety of applications that will introduce you to technology’s latest phenomenon. There’s so much to experience! Learn on a microscopic level all about the wonders of the human body, visit Rembrandt in his studio, experience Apollo 11 through the eyes of those who lived through it, tour the nation’s National Parks, defuse a bomb, and much, much more! Also included in this kit are a headset you can use with your smartphone, a Google cardboard headset, and instructions on how you can make your own VR headsets. The kit includes an iPad that allows you to cast from the Oculus Go headset, as well as lots of information on how to get started and the abundant additional resources available to you.

Let’s Share! CSL Storytelling Kit

Between peak TV, the proliferation of podcasts, and memoirs and biographies topping the bestseller lists, we are truly living in a moment of personal storytelling. But what about the stories of individuals that are excluded from traditional and emerging forms of media? Through oral history, we can learn about the experiences, thoughts and feelings of people that might not otherwise appear in the historical record, and provide individuals with the opportunity to tell their own story in their own words, which is why the Colorado State Library has created circulating Storytelling Kits. The contents of these kits can be used to easily capture either audio or video oral histories, and include an iPad, iPad stand, lavalier microphones, question prompts, and documentation, including an Oral History toolkit to acquaint you with the form, and provide additional resources to help you plan your Oral History project from beginning to end.

Borrowing a Kit from the Colorado State Library

To borrow a kit, you will need to be enrolled in the CSL Resource Kit Borrowing Program.  Your “Kit account” is the same as your CSL Book Club account if you participate in that program.  If you already have a CSL Book Club user number and password, skip to step 4 below.

1. Go to https://cslkits.cvlsites.org/enroll/
2. Complete and submit the enrollment form.
3. You will receive an email with a user number and password for your library within a short time.
4. Go to our online resource catalog at https://csl.catalog.aspencat.info/
5. Login into your  CSL account using the “Login” button at the top right of the screen.
6. Use the Search bar, or browse for “Resource Kit”, to find the Kit you want to borrow.
7. Place a Hold on the desired kit.
8. The checkout period is 2 months.  If the kit is available, it will be sent to you the next business day via the Courier.  If it is checked out to another library, your hold will remain in place until the item is available or you cancel the hold.
9. Please remember to submit feedback either on the paper form included on the clipboard in the kit or online.

For further information about the CSL Resource Kits, contact KitSupport@coloradovirtuallibrary.org.