Celebrating Five Years with the Southwest La Plata Library District
Staff & Board members from SWLPLD celebrate with a retreat day
The Southwest La Plata Library District is one of Colorado’s newest public library districts, having formed in 2020. They celebrated five years with a staff and board retreat in July of 2025. Director Rebecca Benally reached out to her CLiC Colleague on Call Anna Szczepanski. Together, they created a plan around “Finding Your Library Why” that included:
- Crafting BHAGS (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and then applying the “Yes, and…” principle
- Finding your library why (using story diagrams)
- Looking forward to the future (writing headlines for 2050)
- Data and statistics storytelling
- Advocacy practice
The day centered around staff and board members connecting, talking to one another, and dreaming about what they see for the district’s future. And, as any good Birthday Party should, the district served cake and presented staff with small gifts and recognition for their growth and accomplishments.
After the event, Rebecca wrote an email to Anna that said, “I am so grateful for you and your amazing presentation. I appreciate you working so hard on our behalf. It was an excellent meeting!”
Have something to celebrate? Reach out to the Colleague on Call Team to make your staff days more impactful: concteam@clicweb.org
