Mary Hickey is the Books Programs Coordinator at Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book. They’ve answered some questions below to help librarians around Colorado learn about their organization, agency, and/or services.
Below, you’ll learn about The Speakers Bureau at Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book and their potential to help you serve your community. In addition, at the end of this post we’ve included some of their resources for you to view and/or use.
Tell us who you are and what you do for Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book.
My name is Mary Hickey, and I am the Colorado Center for the Book Programs Coordinator. Our mission at the Colorado Center for the Book is to encourage a love of reading and books among people of all ages through diverse cultural activities. I coordinate the Colorado Book Awards, the Speakers Bureau, the Colorado Poet Laureate, and Veterans Writing programs for Colorado Humanities.
How can Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book partner with a library to offer resources or programming to the local community of library visitors and users?
Our Speakers Bureau helps libraries identify the kind of literary event that is right for their community, book one of our speakers, and promote the event. Our current list of speakers includes 2020, 2021, and 2022 Colorado Book Awards finalists and winners. They can read from their work, lecture, lead workshops, or join book club discussions about their work.
What needs or challenges can The Speakers Bureau at Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book help libraries address for their communities?
If you need quality programs for your community, we can help you find appropriate presenters of literary and history programs. We also offer early literacy support through our Motheread/Fatheread Colorado program.
What regions – cities, counties, areas – of Colorado does your organization reach?
Our goal is to reach every county in Colorado. We encourage those who have not partnered with us on an event to reach out and explore what we might do together.
Do the services or resources from The Speakers Bureau at Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book cost any money?
We hope programs are free to participants!
Do libraries have to provide any funds or apply to any grants to work with The Speakers Bureau at Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book?
No, Colorado Humanities contracts with the speakers and pays honoraria. We ask our host partners to pay travel expenses and contribute to the honoraria, but this is not a requirement to partner with us for a Speakers Bureau event.
Do libraries have to provide any staff, volunteers, or training in order to run your programs or provide resources or services with Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book?
We ask our host partners to provide the venue or online platform to hold the event and staff to run the event. If requested, Colorado Humanities staff can attend and assist with event production. We also collaborate with partners to market and promote the event.
What support can you offer libraries to help them access additional resources or funding to bring The Speakers Bureau to their library?
We offer help selecting and contacting a speaker. Libraries interested in working with families and early childhood educators and caregivers should reach out to us about training for staff and support for program implementation.
Let’s say one of our librarians, directors, or staff contact you and says, “We want to bring The Speakers Bureau to our community!” What will the next step look like?
The next step is to complete an online application to host a speaker at least 8 weeks prior to the desired event date. The application and full list of speakers can be found here: https://coloradohumanities.org/programs/ccftb-speakers-bureau/
You will be attending a Virtual Partner Forum with the Colorado State Library Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book where you can answer questions directly from Colorado libraries who are able to attend. How else can people reach you?
Email mary@coloradohumanities.org or call 303-894-7951 x19
***
Not every resource or partner that we highlight will meet the needs or fit in with the mission of every library or community that will read this post. Furthermore, no single interview can include every available opportunity to work with Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book .
If you’d like to learn more about The Speakers Bureau at Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book or speak with Mary, then please view the video from our Virtual Partner Forum where libraries asked questions specific to the library, get ideas or insights on potential avenues for engaging their services or resources, and maybe make that first connection that can be difficult to make otherwise.
Attachments included in this post are:
- Program Spotlight: Dolores Public Library’s Books & Bikes Book Club - November 20, 2024
- Hidden Gem: Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention - November 6, 2024
- Libraries Invited: Regional Listening Sessions for Colorado Age-Friendly Communities - November 4, 2024