“Let’s Share!” – Digital Creation Kits are Here!

Preservation through digital archive creation, and the ability to access archival materials plays a major role in how we understand the past. However, the selection of what is protected, maintained, and accessible is not always equitable because preservation and access in a digital environment requires equipment that is not financially accessible.

In order to ensure that small and rural communities have the opportunity to share and preserve their local history, the Colorado State Library (CSL) is excited to offer Let’s Share!: Digital Creation Kits to libraries and cultural heritage organizations that wish to participate in the Plains to Peaks Collective (PPC), and by extension the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), but don’t have the funds to purchase digitization equipment, and/or don’t have a long-term need for it. Kit contents are designed to make archive creation more accessible, and give our communities the resources to share their stories digitally.

We currently have two Let’s Share! kits available for loan that contain equipment to facilitate both oral history interviews and archival preservation and digitization of ephemera (including but not limited to photographs, letters, and diaries), peripheral devices for file storage and manipulation, how-to guides, templates, and best practices for metadata creation and file storage. You can find more info on kit contents at https://cslkits.cvlsites.org/digitization-kits. We will also be adding another kit geared specifically toward oral histories in the very near future, so stay tuned!

Borrowing a Let’s Share Kit from the Colorado State Library

To borrow a kit, you will need to be enrolled in the CSL 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. The Let’s Share! kits are also available for loan to non-library organizations (e.g. museums, archives, etc), but special arrangements need to be made for delivery and return.  If you are interested in borrowing the kit, but are not a library (and thus not on the Courier system) contact Kit Support directly at KitSupport@coloradovirtuallibrary.org.

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 the kit’s record in our online resource catalog:  Let’s Share! : CSL Digital Creation Kit
5. Login into your  CSL account using the “Login” button at the top right of the screen.
6. Place a Hold on the desired kit.
7. 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.
8. 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 Kits, contact KitSupport@coloradovirtuallibrary.org.