Early on it was recognized by Colorado libraries that despite the plethora of easily-obtainable information via the Internet, people were having trouble finding the “right information” and credible information. To address this problem, you joined forces to create AskColorado. Many librarians in the state, however, are not aware that not only was AskColorado one of the first statewide, multi-library-type, virtual reference services to open in the U.S., it remains one of only fifteen or so states that continue with such a service today.

“While states such as Massachusetts and California have discontinued their services, ours continues today to offer high-level service, along with other states such as Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey,” said Kris Johnson, AskColorado Coordinator. “Our per-capita usage rivals that of those larger states.”

“We offer the human touch to an oftentimes impersonal Internet, and help put people in touch with information that they would otherwise be unable to locate themselves,” added Johnson. “And judging by our numbers, people need us!”

Recent comments from customers highlight the need and usefulness of AskColorado:

• Love that I can access a librarian 24/7 as I often am in urgent need for help when the regular library is closed and I can’t find what I need on the library website. Great friendly and quick service. Very impressed.
• I was so happy to find this service! I was lost navigating a variety of sites and the librarian helped me find the one I needed for my paper.
• The human touch was there. Doesn’t get any better than that!

Over the years, residents from every county in Colorado have logged in, with nearly 25% of those questions coming from rural areas. Questions range the gamut, from homework help for kids, to how to start a small business for adults. Recent research questions include:

• I am trying to find research studies on effective classroom routines or how such routines help with classroom management.
• What is the amount of water the entire state of Colorado uses in one day?
• I am researching the effectiveness of LinkedIn as a job search tool. I have lots of short articles but no substantial research. Help!
• I am sending invitations to our state senators and representatives. How do I address them on the envelope?

AskColorado has also received its share of whimsical questions:

• Can you help me find an article that has a list of the top 500 fictional villains…the evilest!?
• What is the circumference of a moose?

Interesting questions received on the service are posted at the AskColorado Twitter account  nearly daily. AskColorado also participates in popular social networking sites, including Facebook and Delicious.

The AskColorado service works on a model similar to public radio: it is grant-funded and paid for by member libraries. Federal monies through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) are supplied via the Colorado State Library, a unit of the Colorado Department of Education. In addition, member libraries contribute financially and through staff support.

Libraries throughout Colorado of every type — public, academic, school and specialized libraries — contribute money to pay for the software and 24/7 service. Local libraries also provide the staff time to work online with Colorado students and residents. If your library would like to join, or you would like additional information, please contact Kris Johnson.

Website: http://www.askcolorado.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AskColorado
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AskColorado
Operations Manager, Kris Johnson, johnson_k@cde.state.co.us, 303-866-6922

We received over 150 votes for this year’s pin (!), but one of the designs was the clear winner. View the final design. For those who asked, the star on the pin roughly marks the Bermuda Triangle. We think it’s a fun and unexpected design element.

Price: $0.63 each

Following the same procedure as previous years, the Colorado State Library will place a large pin order and would be glad to “piggyback” and add your order to ours. This is a great way to promote next year’s programs, and placing a large order will make it cost effective for all of us.

You will be emailed an invoice with the total amount owed, and this will be payable once you receive the pins in mid to late October. NOTE: Add $5 shipping & handling charge for orders being shipped outside of Colorado.

We will submit our bulk order on 9/1, so please submit your order NO LATER THAN Tuesday, August 31st.

Contact Michelle Gebhart with questions.

Pichado Photography

A businessman’s letter to the Director of the Manitou Springs Public Library – Margaret Morris (post flood).

“The library is good and dry and all the noisy equipment is gone.

If we can provide  any help getting the library back in order let me know and MediClean will take care of it during our regular scheduled cleaning. I will also donate the time I spent out there Thursday.  I think Public Libraries are the greatest! I know if it wasn’t for the help I received at my local Public Library I would have never been able to start my own business. I spent a lot of time at the my local Library  learning how to use a computer before I could afford to buy my own. A Library is also full of many other resources helpful to the small business person. Also the Free computer classes & helpful staff helped out a lot too. My way of giving back.” ~ Charles Blue

Vision: * Libraries move communities into the future. Every resident of Colorado will discover their library to be a place of curiosity & discovery; ideas & experiences; inspiration & imagination. They are places of endless possibilities.

Mission: * Libraries are excited about patron’s questions, we assist patrons with their needs during transitional times in their lives. What’s Next?!

Goals: * To shift the general public’s perceptions so they understand that libraries change with the times, are not just books and provide critical help to people during times of personal or community transition.  * To reinvigorate the value of libraries and secure future funding of Colorado Libraries.

Tagline: * What’s Next?! Your future. Libraries help get you there

We are moving forward and have the logo, mark, fonts and style guide. Please refer to the style guide for explanations on file types. These are all available on the Brand Items page.

We are working on the website and marketing kits which should be ready by the CAL conference in October 2010.

Contact Debbi MacLeod with any questions.

Libraries mean business.  ~ Aspen Walker (Douglas County Libraries)

• We help people get their small business started, and provide resources to help them excel and persist.
• We draw folks into town and commerce centers, and then they spend their money in area businesses (did you know that the Philip S. Miller Library is the number one reason people visit downtown Castle Rock, Colorado? Between January-July of this year, the library has already 285,566 visitors. That’s almost 9,500+ people a week! And when they do visit, they spend at least $20 in surrounding stores. We’re an anchor store… with a benevolent [and fun!] social purpose).
• We offer an amazing return on investment. I only pay $42 a year in taxes to fund my local library, but I enjoy hundreds of dollars worth of materials and services every year. In fact, for every dollar invested in my library district, we return at least $5 in value. Magic? No. It’s the sheer wonder of the public library.
• We help people find jobs. My friend Tana, shared a poignant story with me earlier this year, based on an actual experience she had working in public libraries:

I just remember his hands; nails short and squared, fingers wide and knobby, his skin thick and calloused. Hovering over the keyboard, index fingers extended, carefully, slowly plucking out the letters in an introduction to be inserted into an email application for employment, they were easily the size of my face.

The man, a journeyman plumber, was hesitant. It was a new feature of his profession to have to submit his resume and bids electronically… He needed help opening an email account; questions of passwords and etiquette were answered – but really, how could I answer the larger question in his eyes? Is the world changing too fast? How do people suddenly catch up with the digital tsunami that has swept through every industry, every profession?

It made me sad for a moment to imagine those strong, capable hands suddenly left idle because an employer’s new mandate required email applications. But then I realized that here he was, hunched in a library chair, eyes glued to the screen, brow furrowed, making the leap into the future – with my help! “Got it?” I asked just to make sure he was going to be okay. “Yup. Think so… If I need you again, you’ll be around to help, right?”

Hopefully.
#coBHAG #SaveLibraries

NETWORK’S LARGEST EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE CONNECTED TO THE TV SERIES AMERICA THE STORY OF US.

HISTORY™ announced the winners of a special contest for libraries connected with its landmark 12-part television series, AMERICA THE STORY OF US. The series, which premiered on April 25, 2010 and concluded on Memorial Day, was accompanied by the largest education outreach effort in the network’s history. The Library Outreach Contest encouraged libraries to create themed exhibits, media projects, and public programming about the role their community played in the broader national story.
Open to all libraries nationwide, the contest awarded a total of $35,000 in prizes to 13 libraries. The Grand Prize winner in the contest was awarded $15,000 along with two First Prize winners who were awarded $5,000 each and ten Second Prizes winners who were awarded $1,000 each.

The Erie Community Library part of High Plains Library District was awarded a first place prize in the amount of $5,000 for a project entitled Erie: From Working Coal Town to Suburban Boom Town. The portable slide show which was created by Carol Taylor, a Librarian for HPLD, showcases the town’s coal mining past. “Researching the town’s history and creating the project was fascinating. I learned so much and am grateful to have the opportunity to share what I learned with the world,” said Taylor.

Other winners included the Lower Macungie Library in Macungie, Pennsylvania (Grand Prize) for an exhibit entitled Six Days in April, Forty Years Ago: The Story of Apollo 13 and the Saratoga Springs Public Library in Saratoga Springs, New York (First Place) for their exhibit Honoring Saratoga Veterans. Second place winners include Haines Borough Public Library in Haines, Alaska for their project on the history of the local Tlingit tribe, the Illinois State Library for an exhibit entitled Writing Women Back into History and the Marian Wright Edelman Public Library in Marlboro County, South Carolina for an exhibit entitled Then and Now.

The Library Outreach Contest was a combined effort between HISTORY, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities to engage libraries to join a national exploration of the American past. “AMERICA THE STORY OF US provided a perfect catalyst for communities all over America to join in the conversation about the history of our country,” said Dr. Libby O’Connell, Chief Historian and SVP, Corporate Outreach for HISTORY. “Local libraries brought their grassroots focus to highlight the wonderful stories in their collections and in their backyards.”

“These winners are a testament to the power of libraries to connect communities to the American story,” said Marsha L. Semmel, Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “The rich diversity of the projects is impressive. And we are particularly delighted to see so many small libraries answer this call in a big way. Congratulations to all.”

The library contest criteria included the relevance of the exhibit to American history, the effectiveness of the exhibit or media project overall, and outreach about the projects to local communities.

article obtained from http://www.mylibrary.us/about_my_library/news_detail.asp?news_id=295

The summer reading theme is a little harder to identify this year… so we went for a globe or map concept.

• Children’s theme:  One World, Many Stories
• Teen theme:  You Are Here
• Adult theme:  Novel Destinations

Don’t forget to fill out the comment section if you have something extra to say.

VOTE NOW!
We need your responses by Friday, August 20th.

StoryBlocks.org is a project of the Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL), an advisory group to the State Library. CLEL received a federal grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to create the videos and Web site. The goal is to build awareness and to encourage parents and others to engage with children from birth on early language and pre-literacy skills. The methods used in the videos are based on brain and child development research that show the impact that songs, rhymes and stories have on very young children.

Eight Colorado public libraries helped to fund the project:  Arapahoe Library District, Denver Public Library, Douglas County Libraries, Fort Morgan Public Library, Lafayette Public Library, Salida Regional Library and Westminster Public Library. Donations also came from two non-profit organizations: Friends of Food for Thought and Library People and one anonymous donor.

View press release (PDF)

For more information on StoryBlocks.org, contact Patricia Froehlich, youth services senior consultant at the Colorado State Library, 303-866-6908.