Category: Resource Kits

CSL Resource Kits are bundled tools and materials that enable you to provide new and exciting programming that engages with your community in new and interesting ways. Whether you are looking for activities for babies and toddlers to promote literacy at an early age, or want to help your young patrons learn more about archaeology and fossils, the kits will provide a doorway to learning and experiences that are new and fun, as well as educational.

Library staff can also take advantage of the kits to gain awareness of social issues facing our communities, and become more aware of identified under-served populations and how to work with these patrons more successfully. Our kits are loanable, usable, and help you not only learn something new – but pass that learning on to your patrons. Check out the kits and see how they might be useful in your library at our web site.

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CSL News Resource Kits

New “Let’s Talk About it: Big Red Resource Kit” available for Colorado Libraries.

Back in July – we announced the launch of the first Let’s Talk About It: CSL Big Red Resource Kit to help library staff from rural libraries do what they do better.  This first kit was focused on working with people experiencing homelessness in our communities, and contained programming ideas, suggested library materials,  community conversation guidelines, and more.  Well… we are please as punch to say we have done it again – and have another kit available to help library staff better reach another under served population within their communities – the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, or Gender Non-conforming Kit (AKA LGBTQ+).

The Let’s talk about it! : CSL Big Red Resource Kits program was created to help public library staff within the state of Colorado better understand and serve traditionally under-served populations and to give staff the tools needed to host and facilitate critical community conversations, mending fences within their communities. We hope that using the Let’s talk about it! : CSL Big Red Resource Kits will help establish the library as a safe place for civil dialog in our communities.

Our new kit – the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, or Gender Non-conforming Kit – is full of informative materials that are both educational and fun.  There are games to help members of the community understand many of the issue facing the LGBTQ member, suggested reading and online resources that can help promote understanding and empathy among community members, and ideas on ways to make your library more inviting and accommodating to the LGBTQ community and your LGBTQ patrons.

We invite you to check out the new kit on our CSL Resource Kit website.  and we encourage you to explore other kits available, from early literacy to STEAM activities in discovery, music and art.  For more information about borrowing any of our available kits, contact Madison Basch (basch_m@cde.state.co.us) .

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Resource Kits Resource Sharing

“Let’s Talk About It!” – Community Conversations in a Big Red Box.

The Colorado State Library is delighted to announce the roll out of a new resource that helps library staff from rural libraries do what they do better.

The Let’s talk about it! : CSL Big Red Resource Kits program was created to help public library staff within the state of Colorado better understand and serve traditionally under-served populations and to give staff the tools needed to host and facilitate critical community conversations, mending fences within their communities. We hope that using the Let’s talk about it! : CSL Big Red Resource Kits will help establish the library as a place for civil dialog in our communities.

These Resource Kits are a way to authentically engage with members of your community and generate public knowledge that can then be used to

  • inform decision-making of all kinds,
  • hone in on people’s concerns, aspirations, and thought processes about a given issue in relation to your community,
  • inform how you engage the community by welcoming new people and opening the door to new relationships. This creates the opportunity for new partners and coalitions.

Each kit is intended to serve three purposes:

  • Provide information and materials specifically selected to be used by the under-served population.
  • Educate those who are not members of or accustomed to working with the under-served population.
  • Help library staff host programs and community conversations on issues regarding the identified under-served population.

The Let’s talk about it! : CSL Big Red Resource Kits are available to library staff all over Colorado with a special focus on small and rural libraries.

We currently have one Let’s talk about it”  kit available for loan – the kit containing information, activities and resources to help library staff work more effectively with people experiencing homelessness in their communities.  Our website describing the program and kits available can be found at https://cslkits.cvlsites.org/.  We will be adding more kits to the Let’s Talk About It” series over the coming months – so please check the current kit out, and check back in with the site regularly to see the latest availability.

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Resource Kits

State Library Announces Resource Kits for Library Programming

Looking for some new programming ideas for your library, or wanting to learn more about a topic yourself? The Colorado State Library has Resource Kits you can borrow with everything you need to hold a uke-in, a toddler story time, learn about fossils, archaeology, or important community concerns, or practice a craft like book folding. Visit the CSL Resource Kits website to learn more about the kits currently available. There is even a forum where you can share your programming questions and ideas with other librarians.

Staff in Colorado libraries may check out kits through the CSL AspenCat Catalog for 6 weeks at a time and may renew if there is not a hold on that kit. The kits are not available for loan to out-of-state libraries or organizations other than libraries at this time. Contact Madison Basch (303-866-6700) with questions.

Kits currently available are: