The Pikes Peak Library District Foundation’s sole mission is to raise and manage funds to assure excellence in the Pikes Peak Library District by funding the expansion of programs, services, and facilities beyond what is directly supported by the residents of the District. PPLD received a grant from NextFifty to increase capacity of the Mobile Library Services to better serve our aging population. The Pikes Peak Library District’s Lobby Stop service provides library access to older adults living in Independent, Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing and Memory care throughout El Paso county. NextFifty Initiative’s grant for a new lift gate on the Lobby Stop will allow the Lobby Stop staff to continue to provide patrons with access to book carts filled with materials to browse. Many patrons describe how browsing materials allows them freedom of choice which can lessen in care facilities, provides a shopping experience, and offers resources they would not otherwise have access to as most no longer drive.
Granted funds will be used for:
- A new lift gate for the Lobby Stop vehicle
- Storage cupboards and desk, installation, electrical for desk lighting: The storage provided by proposed cupboards affords the Lobby Stop staff space for more materials that patrons can access during each stop.
- Williams Sound FM ADA Compliance Kit seed money: FM systems amplify sound in smaller meeting and study room spaces. Up to four patrons who are hard of hearing can use the receiver and headphones included in this kit, or can have sound transmitted directly to their hearing aids via a receiver and neck loop. A lapel microphone is included as well as a table mic. Currently, PPLD is equipped with only one kit to use throughout the entire district. With an additional kit for the district, the Lobby Stop staff will be enabled to bring a kit to the assisted living facilities it serves to use during programs. Furthermore, the library district will have more kits available to offer patrons to use in the Pikes Peak Library District’s meeting room spaces.
- Large print book club collection seed money: Medical research shows that social interaction allows people to enjoy healthier lives. Social isolation increases dementia and cognitive decline after retirement. The Pikes Peak Library District’s Mobile Library Department, which includes the Lobby Stop Van Service, gathers books for thirteen book clubs every month. Most of the patrons participating in these book clubs require large print to participate. Currently, staff comb the catalog to find large print titles with enough copies, place holds on all the copies and monitor the holds which become available at different times. With a book club collection that is strategically developed with large print books already collated into a set that can be checked out all at once (along with book club discussion questions, DVDs, Playaways and/or CD book), wait times are decreased and the library district’s capacity to meet the demand (currently a long wait list) for large print book club collections increases, ultimately increasing number of patrons who benefit from the service.
We would like to recognize Peggy and Clarence Shivers for their work with Pikes Peak Library District and service to the community of Colorado Springs.
Clarence and Peggy Shivers created the Shivers Fund at Pikes Peak Library District, in concert with PPLD, in 1993. They introduced the Shivers African American Historical and Cultural Collection at PPLD, which continues to expand annually thanks to the Shivers Fund and its many supporters. In addition to the collection, the Shivers Fund at PPLD also provides opportunities for our community to celebrate history, culture, and the arts. The Fund hosts concerts and other events, as well as helps expands educational and cultural opportunities for young people to encourage tolerance and diversity. Our Library District and Foundation applaud the Shivers Fund for its continued investment to create more tolerance, diversity, and community in the Pikes Peak region. Learn more about the history and work of the Shivers Fund.
From Books to New Beginnings: Using the Library as a Resource to Build a Better Life
As one of the founders of Grey Wolf Resort, a health and wellness agritourism business in Victor, Colorado, award-winning chef and entrepreneur Nathan Dirnberger is just as likely to be found planning menus for gourmet picnics as chasing down a loose rooster. But among these tasks, and the many others he tackles on a regular basis, there’s one more the Colorado native wraps into his days as well: reading. “My mom's a librarian, so she always read to me as a kid, and I grew up reading,” says Dirnberger. As he got older, he says, he went to school to become a chef. Years after graduating, Dirnberger wrote an article for the American Culinary Federation (ACF) on quantum physics and how it connects to a chef’s thoughts becoming a tangible experience. “If you give us a pile of ingredients,” he says, “we think about what we're going to create, and then we apply ourselves — that's the key right there — to turn it into a dish.” In the ACF story, he says, he made the broader analogy of “encouraging people that they can make changes in their lives” if they apply that same theory. About six years ago, Dirnberger started applying the theory to his own life outside of the kitchen, and “a big part of that,” he says, “was books.” Dirnberger began to take advantage of all of the free resources his Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) card could offer, from checking out print copies of books to downloading audio reads through OverDrive — which mom Cynthia Roberts, who has been a PPLD librarian now for almost three decades, introduced to him. Dirnberger was able to dig into and study popular titles by authors like Tim Ferriss, alongside other books about entrepreneurship, marketing, and business. One in particular, stands out for him, though: David Schwartz’ classic The Magic of Thinking Big, first published in 1959, which Dirnberger listened to during a cross-country trip after finishing an internship on a farm. The book’s push to get people to dare to dream (and put concrete habits behind those dreams) spawned his concept for an agritourism-focused farm and ranch — what would become Grey Wolf Resort. But books aren’t the only PPLD resources Dirnberger used. “When I actually started creating my businesses, I would use the library too,” he says, reserving classrooms at Library 21c so he and his business partners could set up projectors and map out plans on whiteboards. “I pretty much started all my businesses there.” “Tony Robbins talks about how there’s never a lack of resources. There’s a lack of resourcefulness,” Dirnberger says. The Library District is “a resource box,” he adds, “full of tools for people to change their lives … if they apply themselves.” Currently billed as a “boutique, private, high-altitude health and wellness center” situated on a family farm and ranch, Dirnberger’s two-year-old Grey Wolf Resort offers guests everything from massages and guided mountain hikes to farm-to-table gourmet picnics. And Dirnberger still has lots of big dreams when it comes to the resort, ranging from building a commercial kitchen and a little restaurant on the property to setting an example for those interested in emulating the concept and creating more agritourism across the country. With his passion for books, one might wonder if Dirnberger has another dream up his sleeve. “Well, yeah,” he says, “actually, I’ve been writing one for a few years now, but as I started writing, I knew the story still had to be finished. … I needed to be able to do something that was actually worth telling. … I wanted a family. I wanted to be able to spend time with my family, that’s why I wanted to become a farmer, to spend time outside and be with nature, and help out with food and clean water and air, and all the things that people and animals both deserve.” “Now that I’ve got all of that,” he says, “it’s a matter of starting to tell the story.”