CVL Collections: 2025 Year in Review

The CVL Collections program began in 2016 to help organizations in Colorado and Wyoming share their unique historic collections online with their communities and with the Digital Public Library of America. Since its inception, the program has been made possible through grant funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Learn more about CVL Collections and Omeka, the open-source content management systems that underpins the program, on the CVL Collections website.

As the CVL Collections program manager, I want to share a snapshot of our year in 2025. There’s a lot to celebrate!

Participation & Satisfaction

The program added 1 new partner organization in 2025. Welcome aboard, East High School Museum! This brings our total participation to 22 live sites and 5 in development. 

Our partners include a variety of organization types, including:

• K-12 schools
• Public libraries
• Academic libraries
• Special libraries
• Government libraries
• Archives, museums, and historical societies
• Other organizations with historic collections 

You can see all of our partners and find links to their Omeka sites on the CVL Collections Current Participants page.

Members continue to show a high rate of satisfaction with the program, as reported in our annual survey. One member noted that:

“We are a small organization with a library staff of two, so it feels like we have “extended staff” with CSL folks there to help us whenever we need it — especially with IT help!”

Technology Support Staff

Speaking of IT support, Omeka infrastructure is supported and maintained by our tremendous technology staff members, Babi Hammond and Dave Hodgins. They help keep Omeka running with the latest software and server technology. Babi is our go-to person for accessibility compliance, design requests, and software updates. Dave oversees our technology stack and maintains all the infrastructure that ensures our services run smoothly and safely. CVL Collections would not be possible without their help. Thank you, Babi and Dave!

Sharing & Learning

Our partners use their Omeka sites in a variety of ways depending on their organizational goals, staff time, and other resources. And while not a competition, it’s nonetheless fun to recognize collections with significant growth in 2025. This year, Goodstein Foundation Library at Casper College in Wyoming grew its public collection by nearly 3,000 items. What an accomplishment! Other collections that grew by more than 100 items include the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and Western Wyoming Community College’s Hay Library.

Congratulations to everyone who increased the number of historic materials available to their communities this year. Collectively, our partners are sharing over 26,000 items with the public on their Omeka sites.

But that’s not all! As of December 2025, our partners are sharing 11,000 items with the Digital Public Library of America through their participation in the Plains to Peaks Collective, the Colorado-Wyoming Hub of the DPLA. Their participation helps to make the PPC one of the largest hubs in the DPLA.

In addition to growing their digital collections, several of our partners are growing professionally through their participation in the Digital Collections Stewardship program, now in its second year. This 9-month experience takes members through the WebJunction Digital Collections Stewardship online course with support from peer learning groups and facilitators from the Colorado State Library.

News from Our Partners

Alamosa Public Library

Contributed by Maria Kramer, Library Manager, Alamosa Public Library

Alamosa Public Library has a new Digitization Lab, courtesy of Pueblo City-County Library District and the Mellon Foundation. The additions to their APL Maker Suite include:

• Epson Perfection V600 scanner
• Wolverine Movie Maker Pro8mm Film Digitizer
• Canon EOS Rebel T7 Camera
• Tascam Linear PCM Recorder
• USB Diskette Drive

They are currently using the equipment to digitize their summer reading photo albums. They are also looking forward to a partnership opportunity with their local museum to digitize some historic slides. Visit their Digital Archive to see new additions to their collection.

Arapahoe Libraries

Contributed by Tim Fritz, Multimedia Librarian, Arapahoe Libraries

In early 2025, Arapahoe Libraries launched a project to transform boxes of historical records, photographs, and media into a fully organized, accessible archive and digital collection. In partnership with Colorado Virtual Library (CVL), the library introduced an online archive to share items from this growing collection with the public.

The project has expanded through meaningful engagement with patrons, many of whom have contributed personal photographs, home movies, and artifacts, often after completing their own digitization projects at the library’s Digital Media Stations. Donated technology is reinvested to expand Digital Media Station services and is also featured in patron-facing exhibits, including our traveling Retro Tech Interaction Lab.

Also, In late 2025, Arapahoe Libraries proudly completed the remodel of its former Support Services building, unveiling The Space by Arapahoe Libraries. Designed as a vibrant public-access destination, The Space features The Café at The Space along with coworking areas, meeting rooms, audio and video recording studios, flexible event space, and catering services. A grand opening celebration is planned for January 26, 2026, marking an exciting new chapter for community connection, creativity, and collaboration. We invite you to plan your visit!

Looking Forward to 2026

I want to thank our current CVL Collections partners for their continued participation and support of the program. I look forward to seeing your collections grow and enrich your communities throughout 2026.

If you are interested in learning more about CVL Collections, please watch this short informational video or contact me with your questions at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you!