Red Feather Lakes Library gives human touch to high-tech improvements

This month we’re looking forward into 2016. Not Criswell-like or with a crystal ball, but rather what you as a Red Feather Lakes Community Library member can expect to see in upcoming weeks and months.

You can expect these to be comfortable adjustments – changes that will enhance your use of the library, offer you more alternatives for materials and access, or in a phrase make the library easier to use. The operative word is choice, and that’s intended as your choice.

By Creed Kidd
Library Director

If you’re satisfied with current levels of service and materials and really don’t want to address what’s different or new, fine. We will continue to offer traditional, personalized bedrock public library service and that’s intended as forever.

That is, we expect the library to be here as a physical presence here in the community and part of the community forever. You’ll be able, during convenient library hours, to come in and browse a strong collection of materials that we expect for a long time will be print, audio and visual.

Within the library you’ll continue to be met by a staff member or volunteer neighbor that is there specifically to help you. If you need assistance in finding the latest John Grisham title – or “Captain Underpants” – or the latest book group selection, that’s what we’re there to do. You’ll be assisted by a person who will check in your returns, perhaps answer a question or otherwise conduct a conversation and finally check-out materials for you.

If you’re uncomfortable using the computer catalog, we’ll assist and in ways that a computer can’t. Many of us remember the card catalog and the reassuring feel of card stock as we flipped through by author, title or subject. What many don’t remember – and I do, starting my library career working with endless numbers of catalog cards – is the many times the desired card was missing, misfiled, incorrectly entered or providing incomplete information. Enter the computer catalog – not as a gizmo but rather as a way of solving some of the problems, many hidden, that the card catalog presented users. If you’re uncomfortable operating a computer or the online catalog doesn’t make sense, then, at Red Feather Lakes Community Library, you’ll always have someone – a person — who can assist. That’s forever.

Materials change too, mostly in the sense of offering improved use, visibility, durability and opportunity. Many of us remember VHS and 8-track tapes that were great innovations for their times but also afforded skips and tape “eaten” by dirty players, “spaghetti” lengths of tape strewn over the living room floor and endless rewinding.

We offer new formats – DVD, books on CD, digital books when people are comfortable with them. If not, we’ll offer alternatives. For example, print… which we consider good now and… forever. Stay tuned