Highlighting eResources

March 26, 2020 by

During this time, it is more important than ever to let your patrons/students know that you have resources available to them online.
This list is to help you evaluate and maximize your website to let your community know you have these important online resources.

Highlight your online resources on your Home page

How many clicks do your patrons/students have before they reach the resource?
Patrons/students should be able to access the resource from your home page within 1-2 clicks.
Home -> Resource
Home -> Category/Topic/Audience -> Resource

Is it easy to see that you have resources from your home page?
Your patrons/students should see that you have resources available to them immediately when they reach your website. Highlight them in things like a rotating banner.

Do you have a book river in your catalog?
Change the book river to display digital titles instead of the physical ones.
If you are an AspenCat library contact Bob and Lauren to change this.

Organize your resources by topic/category/audience

Do you have a long alphabetical list of resources?
Patrons/students are not going to read though a long list to “see” what you have. If you organize by topic/category they are much more likely to keep looking. Separate out to topics such as: Do It Yourself, Genealogy, History, Current Issues, Health and Medicine.

Do you have different ages mixed together?
If you separate out resources by kids, teens, and adults, patrons will explore further.
Note here: it is ok to repeat resources in multiple topics/categories/audiences.

Name them something that is identifiable to patrons/students

Do you call your resources “databases”?
The first thing most people think of when they hear the word “Database” is a boring long list of information. Name them something like “Online Library” or “Online Resources,” “Research and Online Learning”.

Do you call the resource what the Vendor calls it?
Sometimes vendors don’t always name their products as something recognizable. For example, MAS Ultra means nothing to a patron/student. Explora High School makes more sense.

Include descriptions of the resource

You have now highlighted the resource, organized it, and named it. You have their attention. Don’t lose them now. Tell them what that resource is going to do for them.
OK, so Explora High School makes more sense than Mas Ultra; but ultimately, what is Explora High School? Don’t make them guess.

Filed Under: News

Free eResources

March 20, 2020 by

CLiC uses the power of cooperative purchasing to save libraries money. CLiC works with vendors to provide significant savings for libraries and schools.
During this time, several of our vendor partners are providing their excellent resources for FREE. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Homepage, News

Free Resources

March 20, 2020 by

CLiC uses the power of cooperative purchasing to save libraries money. CLiC works with vendors to provide significant savings for libraries and schools.
During this time, several of our vendor partners are providing their excellent resources for FREE. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Save Money, News

Census 2020 For Libraries

February 3, 2020 by

JOIN US FOR AN ONLINE CENSUS PARTY

This is not a webinar! You will not only hear from the experts, but we will begin with professional storyteller Megan Wells to inspire us all. You will also be able to participate in the call, ask questions and talk with fellow library staff.

So make sure you have a cup of coffee and your favorite morning snack so you can relax and enjoy the one-hour event.

This unique and highly engaging online experience is exclusively for Colorado library staff to share best practices, answer questions and get excited to start the countdown to the count! Meet some of your peers from around the state while hearing from top census experts and Jim Duncan of CLiC.

Our panelists include:

Natriece Bryant Deputy Executive Director, CO Dept of Local Affairs

Rosemary Rodriguez
Executive Director, Together We Count Colorado

Gillian Winbourn
Project Director, Together We Count

Jim Duncan
Executive Director Colorado Library Consortium CLiC

Join the party
Thursday, February 20, 2020 @ 10am

Registration is mandatory!

You can register for your library and have your team meet in a conference room, or register individually.
Let’s see how many Colorado libraries we can gather together at the same time!

Filed Under: News

Census 2020 For Libraries

April 4, 2019 by

CLiC: Helping you make sense of Census 2020

The Census is coming so start prepping now!  We’re not talking canned goods and barrels of bottled water. We’re talking library expertise – using every resource at hand to build strong communities.

CLiC is gearing up to connect libraries to an array of resources designed to help you go beyond survival mode and be a key player in getting a complete count in your community.

Census folks at both the State and Federal level recognize that libraries will be a powerful partner in getting a complete count for Census 2020.  As a result, libraries across the state have a seat at the planning table on both local and state level Census committees.  Sara Wright, CLiC Deputy Director, is a member of the state Complete Count Campaign (CCC), a governor’s commission established to increase awareness about Census 2020.

Here at CLiC we are prepping our website to be Census Central for Colorado libraries. In the coming months we’ll start curating a collection of resources.  These will fall into two broad categories, informing your community AND training your staff.

The go to authority in Colorado for Census 2020 is the State Demography Office where you will find the official Colorado Census 2020 web page.

Take a look at the fact sheets prepared by the Demography office. Want to get involved in your community?   Need some basic Census 101 info?  What about guidance on the proposed citizenship question?  There’s a fact sheet for that!  Best of all, there is a fact sheet just for public libraries!

Here are a few more Census 2020 resources to get your started.

CLiC kicked off our census support efforts at the 2019 Spring Workshops with a session by Adam Bickford of the State Demography Office,  “Demography, Libraries and the 2020 Census.” The presentation is available on our website.  Adam reminds us that “the census is a cornerstone of our democracy” and shares facts on why the census is important, easy, and safe.

 

Filed Under: Featured Homepage, News