Friday Grab Bag is a weekly Spotlight on Sharing series that highlights fun, unique, and interesting activities and news in Colorado libraries. Let’s open the Grab Bag!
February is Black History Month
Denver Public Library has a robust list of events to celebrate Black History Month, including film screenings, presentations, book discussions, and historical portrayals. Learn more.
February is also Library Lovers Month
There are so many ways to show your library that you care—bring a friend to sign up for a library card, become a volunteer, join a library Friends group, or just stop in and say hello to your neighborhood librarians. If you’re on social media, tag your library love letters with #LibraryLoversMonth.
Volunteers Needed
Boulder Public Library is looking for volunteers to help with their Youth Maker Hangouts class, where kids ages 7 to 14 learn to code with Scratch, Bitsbox, CAD modeling, Python, Spheros, or BiBli robots. If you’re interested, contact Kate Kelsch, 303-441-3114, kelschk@boulderlibrary.org.
Mamie Doud Eisenhower Library in Broomfield is looking for bilingual speakers to help out with storytime during their upcoming Día de los Niños and Día de los Libros events on Saturday, April 29. Contact Kathy Klatt if you can help, kklatt@broomfield.org
Authors and Speakers
Authors We Love is a new series at Longmont Public Library that features talks by authors from a variety of genres. On Thursday, March 9, Adrian Miller will discuss his book, The President’s Kitchen Cabinet, which explores the African Americans who have worked in the presidential kitchen dating back to the time of George Washington.
The next speaker in Eagle Valley Library District’s High Country Speaker Series is Kathy Heicher, president of the Eagle County Historical Society. On February 9 at 5:30 pm, Kathy will discuss Eagle County Then and Now. The series is free and all ages are welcome to attend.
Bud Werner Memorial Library is hosting an author talk by Scott Carney, investigative journalist and anthropologist, on February 7 at 6:30 pm. Scott’s book, What Doesn’t Kill Us, traces the evolution of how we adapted to extreme geography and climates, and how we can reclaim our biological link to the environment.
Libraries Supporting Communities
Poudre River Public Library District regularly offers social work resource hours. This is your opportunity to talk with a social worker and learn how to connect with community resources for mental health care, substance abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, and other life situations. The next offering is Sunday, February 5 from 12:00 to 5:00 pm.
Anythink Libraries invites you to share a kind word with a stranger in your community by participating in their One Kind Word Project. This February 6 through 11, stop by an Anythink branch to fill out a card with a message of cheer that will be distributed to those in need. While you’re there, consider taking a class on calligraphy, screen printing, or embossing, which will help make your card extra special.
What’s New at the Colorado State Library
The submissions deadline for the 2017 Colorado Teen Video Challenge has been extended to February 14. There’s still time for teens in your community to submit a video on this year’s summer reading topic, Build a Better World.
On January 25 I hosted a webcast on Memory Care at the Library as part of the Spotlight on Sharing series. Watch panelists Amy DelPo from Denver Public Library and Deb Gonzales from Arapahoe Libraries as they discuss programming and tips for serving patrons with dementia and other forms of memory loss.
Several CSL staff members will be attending the Teacher Librarian Day on February 24 at History Colorado. There’s still time to register!
The next CSL in Session is February 15 from 12:00 to 1:00 pm MST. Jane Martel from Arapahoe Libraries will discuss a tool called DiSC, which is designed to help you better understand and communicate with your work colleagues. CSL in Session is always free and no registration is required.
If your library already has or is considering a makerspace, then you might be interested in “Set Up Your Makerspace for Success”, a webinar hosted by CSL on February 28 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm MST. Join us as we discuss the balance between intellectual property and intellectual freedom, and how to set up your makerspace minimize legal risks.
CSL and CLiC are sponsoring up to 14 travel stipends for Colorado public library staff and current MLIS students to attend the Research Institute for Public Libraries (RIPL) Regional on July 31-August 1, 2017 in Colorado Springs. RIPL Regional is a scaled-down version of the very popular national library data boot camp. Applications for the travel stipend are due by 5 pm on February 15.
The Colorado State Publications Library blog published three new posts this week:
- Colorado Department of Revenue Annual Report
- Time Machine Tuesday: History of Colorado Cannabis Laws
- Colorado Potatoes (in honor of National Potato Month)
This post is part of the Spotlight on Sharing initiative, which aims to increase the visibility of resource sharing in Colorado libraries. How is your library sharing? We’d love to hear about it! Email Amy Hitcher, ahitchner@coloradovirtuallibrary.org. On Twitter follow @hitchlib and use the hashtag #spotlightonsharing.
- Friday Grab Bag, November 16, 2018 - November 15, 2018
- Friday Grab Bag, November 9, 2018 - November 9, 2018
- Friday Grab Bag, November 2, 2018 - November 2, 2018