Blogs

As a follow up to the article "Competencies for Technology Trainers: Developing New Skills for Staff in Public Libraries" by Crystal Schimpf in 36.2, I want to draw your attention to http://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/techtraining/.  Here, the Colorado State Library BTOP Project has gathered instructor materials and information related to technology training in public libraries for folks teaching public computer classes or training staff to be better one-on-one tech tutors.

“Failing Forward” is a popular quote by author John Maxwell.  It describes trying something new and innovative knowing that you might not succeed. When we take calculated risks with the intention of improving our communities, we might get lucky and succeed right out of the starting gate or,  as often happens, we might “fail forward” -- in other words, even if things don’t initially work out as planned and we have to work through some kinks along the way, we know that we are headed in the right direction because of our underlying goal.

When we take calculated risks with the intention of improving our communities we cannot fail. To quote one Colorado educator, if we fail, at least we fail forward.

Guest Editors: Annie Epperson, UNC LIbraries & Amy Phillips, Colorado Technical College
 "We must expect more of ourselves. We must stop talking about doing 'more with less' and start talking about 'doing better to get more.' We must expect all librarians, with degrees or without, with tenure or not, to lead and innovate. No more worker bees."  R. David Lankes

Announcing the first issue of the New Colorado Libraries! We hope you enjoy this issue, which features articles created from sessions from the Colorado Association of Libraries Annual Conference (CALCON) 2011, held in Loveland back in October. Moving forward, the first issue of each volume of Colorado Libraries will feature top content from CALCON.

The Colorado Libraries editorial staff are pleased to present issue 35.4, guest edited by Karen Sobel of the University of Colorado Denver's Auraria Library. The theme for 35.4 is "Great Librarians in the Making." This issue marks the last of the content that was planned before the publishing hiatus in 2009, which marks an important milestone in our transition from print to online!

Love books? Like writing? Looking for a way to get involved with CAL? Colorado Libraries is looking for a few good book reviewers to help connect our readers with the best new works in the field! Whether you already have a special book in mind, and want to share your thoughts, or just want to help us wade through the pile of review copies we regularly receive, we'd love to hear from you. Really. We currently have more books than reviewers!

The Colorado Libraries editorial staff are pleased to present issue 35.3, guest edited by Janet Lee of Regis University and Helen Reed of the University of Northern Colorado. This issue marks the last of the content that was completed before the publishing hiatus in 2009. Thanks to the editors and authors Nancy Bolt, Jane Mirandette, Hannah Miller, Joan S. Weeks, Jina Choi Wakimoto, many of whom revisited and revised their articles to account for the time that has passed since they were originally written.

As part of our continuous effort to improve Colorado Libraries, the editorial staff are looking to revamp column content, and we'd like your input, dear readers, on what types of columns and column content you'd like to see! What issues are relevant and timely for library workers in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region?

Colorado Libraries issue 35.2, with the theme of "Special Libraries," is now available! We hope you enjoy learning about some of Colorado's unique special library facilities and the librarians who staff them. Enjoy!