The CLEL Conference Committee invites YOU to present at CLELCON23! CLELCON is the annual conference of the Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy. It provides workshops, keynote speakers, and networking to anyone who is involved or wants to be involved with early literacy. It is recognized nationwide as a premier early literacy professional development opportunity. CLEL …
by Alex McCall / Douglas County Libraries It is easy to convince a librarian that speaking, talking, and reading to children from birth is a vital component of early literacy. From day one, babies’ brains develop neural pathways based on their caregivers’ words, intonations, and gestures that lay the foundations for them to read later …
by Katherine Bunker / High Plains Library District Almost three years after the CoVid-19 pandemic changed the way library professionals engaged patrons, many of us are still navigating the best approach to patron engagement. In the absence of in-person programs due to social distancing restrictions, the popularity of Take-and-Makes (a prepared craft or activity to take home …
by Kaylene Loo / Grand County Library District Being in a rural library, there is the opportunity to do it all. As of now GCLD has a limited number of staff, therefore library associates take on all programs and library tasks. I have the wonderful opportunity to do programs in early literacy, but also programs for children, teens, and adults. In my opinion it is the perfect way to explore different areas. Not only …
by Betsy Brainerd (Arapahoe Libraries) & Melody Garcia (CLEL Communications Chair) We followed up with CLEL’s 2021 Hero Award winner, Betsy Brainerd, for some words of encouragement. Betsy is the Early Literacy Supervisor for Arapahoe Libraries and was nominated last year in recognition of her work with the Begin with Books program and ongoing support …
by Laura Buck / Douglas County Libraries What an inspiring speech we heard from our keynote speaker Lucia Gonzalez! In this time of uncertainty because of the pandemic, Lucia talked about how we are all on a personal journey. She graciously shared her story with us about coming to this country and finding solace in …
by Katherine Bunker / High Plains Library District In another pandemic-dominated year, our passion for helping children “experience the joy of reading and skills in life that literacy provides” did not wane. Storywalks evolved as an existing passive program and morphed into a safe social distancing program for libraries to offer to their communities. In …
by Pearl Bass/Douglas County Libraries 2021 has been a year of many firsts for me. For the first time since graduating with my MLIS in June, I’m no longer a student. In May, I got my first professional library job as a Youth and Family Services Librarian. My position offers me access to a myriad …
Each year CLEL is able to provide scholarship opportunities to Colorado library staff and we ask our recipients to blog about their experience. Remember, if you attended CLELCON21 but missed one of the sessions mentioned here, not to worry! All sessions were recorded and are available on Whova for the next 6 months. Our first …
Do you know how awesome you are? For many of us, the answer is no. It is easy for librarians to suffer from imposter syndrome; the belief that we are just faking it as an early literacy expert or children’s programming extraordinaire. The truth is we are accomplishing amazing things every day and making a …
