School

2011 AskColorado and AskAcademic Evaluation

June 2012

AskColorado (www.askcolorado.org), a statewide virtual reference service, was launched on September 2, 2003. Colorado libraries joined the cooperative as members to provide 24/7 chat reference service to Coloradans (see Figure 1 for a timeline of the service). Early iterations of the service included queues for K-12 students, general audiences, academic patrons, and Spanish speakers. Over […]

What is the Value of an MLIS to You?

In 2008, LRS conducted the 60-Second Survey What is the Value of an MLIS to You?. It was inspired by heated discussions on the Colorado library listserv Libnet about the value of the MLIS degree. The passion, urgency, and breadth of opinions expressed by Colorado librarians on the subject prompted LRS to provide a forum […]

Change in School Librarian Staffing Linked With Change in CSAP Reading Performance, 2005 to 2011

January 2012

In the September 2011 issue of School Library Journal (SLJ), we presented a national analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) state-level data on librarian staffing and fourth-grade reading scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The results from this study indicated that states that gained school librarians from 2004-05 to 2008-09 […]

School Librarians Continue to Help Students Achieve Standards: The Third Colorado Study (2010)

November 2010

Known links between stronger school library programs and better Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) scores are confirmed by a recent examination of 2007-08 data on school libraries and 2008 data on students scoring proficient or advanced on CSAP reading. In addition, stronger library programs were also associated with reduced percentages of students receiving unsatisfactory CSAP […]

Colorado’s @your library Advocacy Campaign Evaluation

July 2004

The Colorado Advocacy Project, Colorado’s @your library Campaign, is a statewide advocacy campaign sponsored by the Colorado Association of Libraries. It contains elements of public relations, marketing, and community relations to build visibility and support for libraries and has been active from 2002 through October 2004 with three components: The Initiative (Coach/Player) Project; Public Relations/Marketing […]

Intellectual Freedom Issues in Colorado Libraries: Concerns, Challenges, Resources, and Opinions

April 2004

This project was conceived by the Colorado Association of Libraries’ (CAL) Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) to shed light on intellectual freedom issues in Colorado libraries. Of particular interest to the IFC were ‘challenges to’ versus ‘concerns about’ materials and the Internet in libraries. There was anecdotal evidence that there were far more concerns being raised […]

Budget Cuts and Their Impact on Library Services to Coloradans

January 2004

In fall 2003, a survey commissioned by the Strategic Issues and Emergency Response (SIER) Committee of the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) and administered by the Library Research Service (LRS) measured the extent of local budget cuts to libraries across Colorado. The Budget Cut Survey found that cuts to local library budgets in the state […]

Colorado Courier Cost Comparison Study

April 2003

The Colorado Courier is a cooperative service of the seven regional library systems of Colorado. It provides delivery service for library materials to participating libraries across the state. The statewide courier service is administered by the Central Colorado Library System (CCLS) and funded by the seven regional library service systems. Participating libraries pay to use […]