Check Out an Experience!
July 18, 2017 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm MDT
We all know that libraries are about more than books, indeed, we offer our communities a wealth of experiences when they walk through our doors. But how can we provide experiences that extend beyond the library walls? Join us as staff from the Longmont Public Library, the Wilkinson Public Library, and the Colorado State Library share information about the unusual items their libraries circulate. Bring your own thoughts and ideas to share as we brainstorm the why’s and how’s of circulating experiences.
Resources
- Longmont Public Library – Slides
- Longmont Public Library – Experience Bags
- Wilkinson Public Library – Prezi Slides
- Wilkinson Public Library – Unusual Items to Borrow
- Colorado State Library – State Park Passes – Slides
Facilitators: Beth Crist, Jill Wilson, Judith Anderson, Teresa Myers
As Youth & Family Services Consultant at the Colorado State Library, Beth Crist loves to discover what unique items libraries are circulating. And she’s had her hand in the mix, too, through Check Out Colorado State Parks, which circulates nature backpacks with state park passes in public, military and academic libraries throughout the state. Circulating unusual items also feeds her interest of how public libraries can serve—and even attract—tourists visiting a community.
Jill Wilson is the Public Services Manager at the Wilkinson Public Library in Telluride, Colorado. She has been working in Public Libraries for over 10 years, and is passionate about bringing new and cutting-edge programs and resources to the members of her community. She develops and manages the ‘Unusual Items for Checkout’ at her library, and her favorite thing to hear a patron say is, “What?!? I can’t believe you can check THAT out from the Library!”
Judith Anderson is Director at the Longmont Library. She got her start loaning unusual things with appliance meters and radon detectors (not very sexy) and has since moved on to add “Experience and Destination Bags”, telescopes and robots (way more fun). We have been happily surprising our patrons for the past 10 years and look forward to the “next odd thing”.
Teresa Myers is the Marketing Communications Manager for the Longmont Public Library. She is the library’s first marketing specialist and it’s the first time she’s done marketing for a library, so they’re figuring things out together as they go. Teresa brags to the other marketing and communications staff working for the City of Longmont that she has the best job in the City because she gets to market book groups and summer reading programs and telescope kits.