Friday Grab Bag is a weekly Spotlight on Sharing series that highlights fun, unique, and interesting activities and news in Colorado libraries. This week’s grab bag is bursting at the seams, so let’s see what’s inside.
Holiday Gifts & Crafts
East Morgan County Library wants to make your life a little easier this holiday season by making a gift wrapping workstation available on December 17 from 2-5 pm.
Avon Public Library is also doing something unique for the holidays—a stationery exchange. From December 1 – 30, bring in your extra stationery or holidays cards and trade them for new ones.
Need a last-minute gift idea? Learn to knit an infinity scarf with your arms (no needles required) at Wilkinson Public Library on Wednesday, December 21, 6 pm.
Teens looking for DIY gift ideas should check out DPL’s Montbello Branch Library. Throughout December the library is offering workshops featuring holiday STEM projects. On Monday, December 19, for example, kids and teens can make paper circuit holiday cards that light up. Montbello’s events calendar has all the details.
Tech Stuff
Do you have boxes full of old home movies and photos? At Cañon City Public Library you can convert your home movie VHS tapes and photos to digital. Make an appointment by calling the library, 719-269-9020.
Mesa County residents can head to the Central Library on Wednesday, December 21 at 5:30 for a Tech Talk about free alternatives to popular software programs. If you’ve ever wanted the functionality of Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Office but without the price tag, then this might be the class for you.
Ignacio Community Library has new public internet computers powered by Raspberry Pi (which sounds delicious, but is apparently not edible). The computers are private, secure, and you don’t need a library card to use them.
Books and Literacy
Several month ago, the Spotlight on Sharing series featured walking book clubs, where members enjoy a walk or hike while talking about books. Gypsum Public Library has put a different spin on the concept: the Heart Smart Readers meet at the Gypsum Rec Center for a workout followed by a book club discussion at the library. Their next meeting is Wednesday, December 21 at 1:00 pm.
Bud Werner Memorial Library invites kids in grades K-12 to participate in their brand new Winter Reading Program starting December 18 through February 12. Participants can enter to the Winter Reading Drawing for each book they read. Prizes include brand new books, movies, and local goodies.
Each month, Arapahoe Libraries publishes Bright Ideas, an online newsletter about early literacy for parents, caregivers, and teachers. It features advice from ALD’s early literacy librarians, suggests books and upcoming library programs, and showcases a new early literacy app. Anyone can subscribe for free at this link.
What’s New at the Colorado State Library
Arian shared some Tex Mex recipes from her new Book Club Resource title, Furiously Happy by Jenny Lewis. Find links to the recipes and learn how your library can borrow this book kit in Arian’s latest post.
Arian also posted another in her ongoing series about famous historical Coloradans. This time she features Jack Dempsey, prize-fighter, actor, and author originally from Manassa, CO.
In my recent Spotlight on Sharing post, I shared how Libraries partner with local businesses, supporting them with training, online resources, and meeting spaces.
Leigh announced that the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection (CHNC) is now part of Elephind.com, a free search engine for historic newspapers. We’re excited to grow our global audience as members of Elephind. Read Leigh’s announcement.
Lori announced that the 48th annual Colorado ILL Conference will be held May 4-5, 2017 at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, CO. The planning committee is seeking proposals for presentations and lightning talks.
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