Friday Grab Bag, December 22, 2023

The Friday Grab Bag is a weekly series that highlights fun, unique, and interesting happenings in Colorado libraries, and includes news from Colorado State Library.

Let’s open the Friday Grab Bag!

New Year’s Here!

Bemis Public Library invites families to their “Noon” Year’s Eve Party on December 30 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Get a jump on 2024 with treats, dancing, door prizes, and the dropping of the New Year’s Eve ball at 12 o’clock noon.

Summit County Library is hosting a Happy Noon Year Party for Teens on December 30 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm at the North Branch in Silverthorne. They will be ringing in the new year a little early with vision boards, snacks, and games.

Arapahoe Libraries’ New Year, New Books is the perfect opportunity to learn about exciting new titles coming out in 2024. Join them on January 6, 10:00 am, at Koelbel.

Winter Tales

Bud Werner Memorial Library is screening Santa’s Wild Home from December 22 – 31. The film is “an intimate look at the wildlife of Lapland, the fabled home of Santa Claus and actual home of reindeer, great gray owls, wolverines, eagles, wolves & musk oxen.”

High Plains Library District is hosting a Dungeons and Dragons Winter Holiday One Shot for kids and teens on December 28 & 29 at Centennial Park Library. In the Find Frosty campaign, players will help defeat a wizard to free Frosty from a snowglobe prison.

Lyons Community Library invites kids to Wildlife Secrets: Wildlife in Winter, January 3 at 10:30 am. Learn about the strategies, from hibernation to migration, that different animals use to survive the coldest months.

Get Cozy

Kick off winter break at Longmont Public Library with Cookies, Cocoa and Books, December 22 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Snuggle in for a cozy afternoon with friends and treats.

Pitkin County Library’s Classics Book Club is reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Join them for the discussion on December 29 at 5:00 pm.

Alamosa Public Library’s Youth Winter Reading Challenge is December 22 through January 7. Students of all ages are encouraged to track 20 minutes of reading per day, then bring their completed tracker back to the library to be entered in the Winter Reading Challenge Raffle.

Pick ‘n’ Mix

Pueblo City-County Library invites you to view The Gates of Pueblo, an exhibit by local artist Joseph Cawlfield on display through December 31 in the Hispanic Resource Center Gallery at the Rawlings Library. The exhibit features watercolor paintings of different gates from the Pueblo area.

Aurora Public Library is bringing the heat to the Teen Hot Sauce Challenge on December 23 at Tallyn’s Reach Library. Teens are invited to try a variety of hot sauces of increasing spiciness up to 82,000 Scoville Heat Units. Registration is required.

Garfield County Libraries announces Cooking Matters, a course that teaches cooking skills and emphasizes the importance of healthy eating and family meal planning. The class will be held at Parachute Branch Library on Thursdays from January 4 through February 1 at 6:00 pm.

What’s New at Colorado State Library

Colorado State Publications Blog

• Digital Repository Top 5: the most popular newly digitized materials of 2023

Accessibility

• Web Accessibility: Getting Started. Kick starting your readiness for HB21-1110

Program Spotlight

• Summit County Libraries’ The Wine & True Crime Book Club

Learning Opportunities

• Cultural humility: A pathway to improving libraries (Colorado only)
  • January 9, 12:00 – 2:00 pm
  • Registration required
• Denver’s Plaza Conversation Maps: Transforming English Language Learning with Empowering Discussions
  • January 18, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
  • Registration required
• Adventure Begins at the Library Summer 2024 Workshops
  • January 24 & 31, 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm
  • Registration required
• CSL in Session: Sticky Situations: Patron privacy, and customer service
  • January 25, 12:00 – 1:00 pm
  • No registration needed
• Online Learning Opportunities in December 2023 for Library Staff. Browse this calendar of free online learning opportunities shared with us by Wyoming State Library.

Library Jobline

Are you considering a job change this year? Check out Library Jobline for hot new library employment opportunities, like this selection from around Colorado.

• Teen Services Librarian – Montrose Regional Library District
• Library Assistant (Adult Services) – Aurora Public Library
• Library Assistant (Circulation) – Aurora Public Library
• Librarian (Eugene Field Branch) – Denver Public Library
• Branch Supervisor (Westwood Redeemer) – Denver Public Library
• Service Guide – Rampart Library District
• Library Assistant, Access Services – Regis University
• Archives Assistant – Regis University
• Public Services Supervisor – Edgewater & Wheat Ridge Libraries – Jefferson County Public Library
• University Archivist (Assistant or Associate Professor of Library Services) – Colorado State University – Pueblo
• Service Guide – Rampart Library District

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This post is part of the Spotlight on Sharing initiative, which aims to increase the visibility of Colorado library programs and resource sharing. Do you have a story from your library to share? Email Amy Hitchner, ahitchner@coloradovirtuallibrary.org.

All images are from the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection, a service of Colorado State Library.