The Friday Grab Bag is a weekly series that highlights fun, unique, and interesting happenings in Colorado libraries, and includes news from the Colorado State Library.
Let’s open the Friday Grab Bag!
Arts & Crafts
In honor of the Yampa Valley Crane Festival, aerialist Heidi Miller and students from Spirit Wind Aerial Arts will perform at the Bud Werner Memorial Library on August 30 at 5:00 pm. See more events related to the Crane Festival.
Join Anythink’s Experiments in Sound and participate in the creation of a sound installation. Anythink Brighton is hosting the event on August 27 from 1:30 to 3:30 pm; participants can work on sounds creations and experiment in recording.
Whether you sew, crochet, quilt, or knit, you are welcome at Pines & Plains Libraries’ Witty Knitters, a group of friendly and knowledgeable crafters that meets every Tuesday at 3:45 pm at the Simla Public Library.
View the works of local artists Tina Duemler and Alice Billings at Ridgway Public Library’s ART at the Library ART Show. The exhibition will be open Sep. 8 through Nov. 9, with an artists’ reception on Sep. 8 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm.
UNC University Libraries invites you to “Colorado Inspirations: photography and more by three generations of the Harms Family.” The exhibit is open Aug. 20 through Sep. 21 in the Mari Michener Gallery.
Pick ‘n’ Mix
Last Saturday, Pine River Library held its fourth annual Zucchini Extravaganza in collaboration with Tour de Farms, Pine River Shares, and the Pine River Garden Club. The event included contests for best-dressed, best-carved, biggest, and ugliest squash, a zucchini-based potluck, and a zucchini slingshot.
Take a break in your day to participate in Midday Music Meditation. Boulder Public Library hosts this event every second Wednesday of the month, which features improvised music on the Turkish Oud, cello, zils, didgeridoo, autoharp, flutes, and more. The next Midday Music is September 12 at noon.
Become a library power user at Mesa County Libraries’ Library 101 presentation, August 29 at 9:30 am. Join staff from the Central Library for a tour of special spaces and information about the services and resources offered at the library. Registration is encouraged by not required.
Learn how to edit, crop, organize, and share images on your phone or tablet. Poudre River Public Library District is offering Photography and Photo Editing with Your Mobile Device, August 25 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at Harmony Library.
Teens are invited to Nederland Community Library’s Escape Room, September 17 from 4:00 to 5:30. Using only their cunning and problem-solving abilities, teens will have to escape from a room built using BreakoutEDU materials.
Revisit the Great American Eclipse of 2017 with Eagle Valley Library District. On September 5 at 6:00 pm, photographer and naturalist Rick Spitzer will share pictures he took of the eclipse in Driggs, Idaho, and explain the planning that went into the project.
Small business owners are invited to Business and Breakfast, a free monthly series at Glenwood Springs Branch Library. The next meeting on Sept. 11 at 9:00 am features Trent Blizzard of BlizzardPress teaching Search Engine Optimization. Space is limited; be sure to register.
Libraries in the News
Pueblo Chieftain: Library’s Kid Parade successful in second run | Pueblo City-County Library District.
What’s New at the Colorado State Library
National Book Festival
Melissa Carlson will represent the Colorado State Library at the 2018 Library of Congress National Book Festival on Sept. 1 in Washington, D.C. Follow the event via the hashtag #NatBookFest.
Learning Opportunities
CSL in Session, Getting Unstuck: The Secret Life of Procrastinators, with Jean Heilig & Christine Kreger.
- Sept. 20, 2018, 12:00 to 1:00 pm
- Free; no registration needed; join online
CLEL (Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy) Conference
- Oct. 12, 2018, 8:00 to 4:30
- Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities
View other upcoming learning opportunities for August 2018. For Colorado-specific events check the Library Learning & Creation Center.
Plains to Peaks Collective (PPC)
National History Day events will be starting soon. Give student researchers a leg up by pointing them towards the Plains to Peaks Collective — it contains over 46,000 historic objects from Colorado and Wyoming. Search the PPC collection in the Digital Public Library of America.
Colorado State Publications Library
This post is part of the Spotlight on Sharing initiative, which aims to increase the visibility of resource sharing in Colorado libraries. Do you have a story from your library to share? Email Amy Hitchner, ahitchner@coloradovirtuallibrary.org. Also, be sure to follow Colorado State Library on Twitter and Facebook.
- 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