The Colorado State Library has received the Library Community Partnership Award, Jean Maio Award for Excellence in Adult Literacy and Library Advocate Award from the Colorado Association of Libraries and Nicolle Steffen, CDE’s director of the state’s Library Research Service, has been named as the recipient of the association’s President’s Award.
“We are honored to be recognized for such varied aspects of our work,” said Eugene Hainer, Colorado State Library director. “I’m very proud of the team we’ve established and the partnerships we’ve built. Providing one-of-a-kind library systems to inmates, promoting early literacy and developing a research system with ever-expanding online tools are accomplishments that will benefit our state for years to come.”
Colorado Commissioner of Education Dwight D. Jones offered congratulations to the honorees and added: “Librarians are often the unsung heroes of education. These awards serve as well-deserved testimony to the talent and innovation that these individuals and organizations bring to all Colorado citizens.”
The Library Community Partnership Award recognizes achievements in planning and implementing collaborative library programs or services between Colorado libraries, or between a Colorado library and a business, organization, group or individual.
The award was given to the State Library, Colorado Department of Corrections and EOS International. Diana Reese of the State Library’s Institutional Library Development unit led the three organizations in a five-year strategic partnership to implement the first remotely hosted integrated library catalog and circulation software in a U.S. prison system. The software provides inmates with experience using a real-world library system that is safe, monitored and secure.
The Jean Maio Award for Excellence in Adult Literacy recognizes excellence in literacy programming by a Colorado academic, special, public or school library, or a library in collaboration with another agency, during the past year. Priority is given to a program that serves the economically disadvantaged in a setting where families work on literacy needs.
The State Library, with the advisory group Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (www.clel.org), won the award for the StoryBlocks project (www.storyblocks.org). This collection of 60-second videos of songs, rhymes, and fingerplays for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers help parents, childcare providers and library staff encourage a love of language and learning. This project included a partnership with Rocky Mountain PBS to produce, host and promote the StoryBlocks videos.
The Library Advocate Award recognizes a far-reaching, sustained contribution to the promotion and/or support of library and information services to the state of Colorado. The Colorado State Library received the award for LRS.org, the brainchild of Library Research Service. This online Web site provides dynamic, on-demand access to statistics for public, school and academic libraries in Colorado. Research is reported in several formats with an ever-expanding array of online tools to provide library advocates and administrators with a wealth of information.
The Colorado Association of Libraries President’s Awards are given by the current CAL president to those who have provided excellent service to the association during the president’s term. As the treasurer of the Colorado Association of Libraries, Nicolle Steffen has provided superior service and support to the organization over the past year. In particular, she spent countless hours overseeing CAL’s financial transition to IMI (Interactive Management, Inc.) and the financial health of the organization as a whole.
The CAL Awards Committee selects winners each year based on nominations submitted by librarians and others in the library community.
The awards dinner ceremony will be held at the CAL Conference on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010, at the Embassy Suites Conference Center in Loveland, Colo. Tickets for the Awards Dinner Ceremony can be purchased at www.cal-webs.org/conference.html or by calling 303-463-6400.
Students at Landmark academy at reunion celebrate first annual latin culture week
Landmark Academy at Reunion , a tuition-free public charter school, recently hosted their First Annual Latin Culture Week, a week focused on educating students on the various aspects of Latin culture, from music and art to sports and celebrities, through unique activities. During the week-long celebration, students were able to step into the lives of the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans with Latin culture lessons through piñata making, cultural crafts, songs, traditional foods and more. Students made maracas and learned a traditional Mexican Hat Dance; created Aztec suns working with metal tooling; and studied different countries in Mexico , Central America and South America . Aztec dancers from the Colorado Folk Arts Council also visited with students and educated them on the spiritual and traditional aspects of Aztec culture through dance. “We reside in a community with strong Latin and Hispanic roots,” said Matt Carlton, principal of Landmark Academy at Reunion . “Our community culture is important to us at Landmark. By providing unique ways for our students to learn the various backgrounds of our diverse community they are able to understand and appreciate different cultures.” For more information about Landmark Academy at Reunion , please visit www.landmarkacademy.org.
