Sunshine & Stories in Both Public and School Libraries

What is Sunshine & Stories?

Sunshine & Stories is a Colorado State Library podcast dedicated to all things summer in public libraries. During our 2024-25 season, keep an eye out for new episodes twice a month from August to May. We’ll explore topics like performers, incentives, outreach, volunteers, capturing impact, and many more ideas related to designing a summer public library program for your whole community (adults included!). Featuring interviews with other Colorado State Library staff and ideas from Colorado library professionals around the state, this podcast aims to provide valuable insight and spark creative ideas in your public library’s own 2025 summer planning. Whether you’re a veteran in the summer library program planning world, a newbie looking to start a summer program for the first time, or someone who’s considering changing up your program a little or a lot this year, we hope this podcast will be a valuable resource for you.

Episode 104: Perfect Summer Partners:

Episode Summary:

Special guest, Suzi Tonini, Colorado’s School Library Leadership Consultant, joins Kate Compton to chat about the school library landscape in our state and how public library professionals can partner with school library professionals for summer and beyond. If you’d like to connect with Suzi to learn more about any of the information she shares in this episode, you can reach her at tonini_s@cde.state.co.us.

00:00 – Introduction
01:26 – What should we know about school libraries?
05:35 – Examples of school/public library partnership
16:30 – Navigating challenges
20:44 – Book and program highlights
23:32 – Closing

Resources:

Collaborative Summer Library Program
LibSlide.org Colorado State Profile
HESTL EdCon
Living Color by Steve Jenkins
Color the Sky by David Elliot (author) Evan Turk (illustrator)
Colorado Virtual Library Mailing Lists 101
Join Libnet (All things libraries in Colorado) here
Join cys-lib (our Colorado Youth Services Network mailing list) here

Next Drop-In Chat:

Hey Colorado library folks! Join us on September 24, 2024 at 11:00 am to noon Mountain Time for our first online Summer Drop-in Chat. No need to register. Come when you can, stay for as long as you can. See you soon!

If you work in a library and gave us a listen, please let us know what you think by completing a short feedback survey for this episode.