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Showing posts from September, 2025

Documentary: The Librarians

  In this 2025 documentary, "librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights." Come join us for this free and incisive look at what's really happening in America's libraries, and to  America's librarians.

Professional conferences mean better service

At the recent annual gathering of the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) in Breckenridge two of our people won awards. The Distinction in Library Services award went to Nancy Barnes, our Director of Branches. Nancy helped build the powerful and accomplished team that operates our six libraries. The Unsung Hero Award went to Jon Medrano, our Facilities Manager. Both of them are extraordinary people, the kind who just step in to help and are fun to hang out with (Jon, despite being Unsung, just released an original song I found on Spotify: “On A Wednesday”). Branch Managers Amaranda Fregoso and Ana Gaytan teamed up with Kim Owens, our HR Director, to present on the creation of a stipend for Spanish-speaking skills. A lot of other Colorado libraries are trying to crack the code: an intersection of community need and recruitment strategies. Our folks are ahead of the pack. Alex Garcia-Bernal spoke about our Danish-borne but hyper local program the Human Library. We’ve hosted it 3 time...

That's Impossible!

When I was 12 I was talking with my mom at the dining table. Suddenly she looked up, stood up and said, “Mother?” She asked me, “Did you hear that?” I’d heard nothing. “I hear my mother calling my name!” she said. She walked around the house, upstairs, out front. My maternal grandparents lived about 300 miles away in Ohio. We didn’t think they were coming to see us. Mom called Ohio. There was no answer. A couple hours later we got a call: My grandmother had been in a car accident, knocked out but okay. When the ambulance came for her, she was whispering my mother’s name, over and over. Years later, I was studying martial arts, and we got a visit from a slender, slightly stooped Chinese man. He was 35 years old, but was introduced to us as a master. He was asked to demonstrate his skills and did three things. First, he asked a sword-wielding student to attack him, which the student did in a great leap. To me, it looked like the master just raised one hand; the student went flying straig...