Colorado Mountain College’s four libraries – three brick-and-mortar buildings and a virtual library – recently received a grant of $4,500 from the Colorado State Library through the State Grants for Libraries Act.
The three physical libraries are based at the college’s three residential campuses: Quigley Library in Glenwood Springs-Spring Valley, Timberline Library in Leadville and the Steamboat Springs’ campus library. The virtual library serves all of the college’s 11 locations.
“This award will allow each of our libraries to tailor their purchases to the needs of their faculty and students,” said Christine Whittington, library director at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville. “It will enable us to enhance our currently adequate collections by focusing on literacy education.”
Whittington said that purchases made from the grant funds will range from online databases to ease students’ retrieval of information needed for course assignments, to materials supporting the college’s bachelor’s degree in elementary education, to high-interest fiction and nonfiction to encourage students in developmental courses to read more.
Kevin Williams, library director at the Steamboat Springs campus, said that in past years of receiving the grant, the library has used the money to purchase materials that focus on literacy and education, as well as digital and spatial literacy.
“We will continue to use these funds for similar purchases,” he said.
The college’s library directors agreed that the grant is appreciated and a welcome support to the CMC library system.
“It will make all library collections more useful and appealing to our library users,” Whittington said.
The State Grants for Libraries was funded by the Colorado Legislature to help increase access to early literacy and educational materials. This non-competitive program administered by the Colorado State Library funded a total of 315 public libraries, academic libraries and school districts during the 2015-16 fiscal year.
“We are pleased to provide additional funds for new resources in schools and libraries across the state,” said Eugene Hainer, the state librarian and assistant commissioner. “The $2.5 million appropriation in the state budget this year demonstrates a commitment to literacy and libraries by Colorado’s elected leaders.”