About the Library
Our Mission
Providing resources and opportunities that change individual lives and build community.
Seek. Engage. Transform.
Message from the Executive Director:
Community Connections
Colorado Springs and El Paso County truly “weathered” some frightening situations this year, including surviving the Waldo Canyon Fire. As our fall harvest season progresses, we are beginning to see evidence of recovery both on the land itself as the charred hillside shows signs of emerging greenery, and in the community as homes begin to be repaired and rebuilt. Without the conjoined efforts of many, however, we might not have recuperated as well nor as quickly.
Signs of Hope: A Tribute to the Heroes of the Waldo Canyon Fire features photographs of signs and tributes to firefighters. One of the featured quotes in the book is by short story writer Cynthia Ozick: “…we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” In this season of thanks, her comment is a wonderful one to ponder, not only from the perspective of the Waldo Canyon Fire, but also from the perspective of our everyday lives.
PPLD and our library staff helped with the emergency effort this summer by providing computer access, books, storytimes, and staff assistance at the Red Cross shelters. Our buildings provided comfort and respite from the smoke, and staff in our libraries provided information and consoling words. I am proud to announce that PPLD, along with four other Colorado libraries, received the Colorado Association of Libraries Intellectual Freedom Award in October, for going “…above and beyond normal levels of service to make sure that their communities could get the information they needed during difficult times … these libraries proved that they were at the heart of their communities and would continue to provide this essential access to information.”
Our newsletter this season focuses on the numerous people and entities that help us provide great programs and services and that connect us as community. In this season of thanks, I would like to share with you my personal appreciation for those around me who make Pikes Peak Library District a great resource for our community and a successful public library system.
It all starts with you – appreciative patrons. You visit us regularly, you use our resources actively, and you attend and love the programs and classes we offer. You fuel our efforts to be even more responsive to your needs.
- It continues with thoughtful Friends, volunteers, Foundation Board, and donors. Our District and Community Friends of the Library groups support our libraries with assistance and contributions year-round. Our 1,500 volunteers in all 13 libraries contribute their time to help our operations run smoothly, and to provide great programs for you. Our PPLD Foundation staff and Board understand that the library is a legacy institution, and they work diligently to find additional funding to fulfill capital and programming needs. And, donors at every level step up to help us meet the challenge of increasing resource utilization and financial needs in difficult economic times.
- I am privileged to work with wonderful staff. I am immensely grateful for my gracious and engaged coworkers, who have a passion for great library service. I am equally as privileged to work with a forward-looking Board of Trustees as well as a talented Leadership Team who see our District as a community anchor. They are community-oriented and seek to make PPLD the best it can be through innovative and responsive library services.
The reach, the impact, and the value of Pikes Peak Library District is far greater than the sum of its parts. We appreciate everyone’s part in making us a well-utilized and valuable library system.
Seek. Engage. Transform.
Executive Director, Pikes Peak Library District
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Comments
Wonderful Library
I just want to thank the staff at Sand Creek Library. I have been going there for years and years and every person who works there is knowledgeable, friendly, and so very helpful. I consider many of the staff more than library employees, I consider them friends.
Thank you all for such a great library system.
I've recently moved to
I've recently moved to Colorado Springs from out of state, and I have been very impressed with the library system here! I've never had such an easy time finding things. Just about everything I could ever want to read, listen to, or watch is available locally and the rare item that is not in PPLD is easily found through Colorado's interlibrary loan. I also greatly appreciate the ease of holding items and sending them to my neighborhood branch. Other libraries through the country are not nearly so efficient.
The only thing that I miss from some of the other libraries we've lived near is a history of the things I've checked out. Sometimes I like to come back to things I've read or I get interrupted in a series of books or DVDs and forget which volume I'm reading. Is such a thing available? If not, then I'd like to suggest a list in the online catalog that automatically includes things I've checked out.
I also have a question about how the items are divided throughout the various branches. I've noticed that the selection at the nearest branch to my home changes quite a bit. The books don't have a branch listed on any of the library applied stickers. How do you decide which library for a book to stay at? Does the book simply stay at the last place it was turned in?
Thanks for all the work you do for the PPLD. This really is an exemplary library!
Reply to JLM
Hi JLM,
We are glad to know that you are enjoying the Pikes Peak Library District. We have tested a catalog feature that allows for the retention of the patron checkout history, but we found the feature needed further development by the vendor before we could use it. We know some patrons would like to have the ability to save the checkout information, and we can only implement this option when it adequately allows patrons to "opt in." I hope it is an option we can provide in the future. We reported our suggestions to the vendor.
We don't have a way to implement a list in the catalog that automatically retains patron checkouts.
PPLD has a "floating collection" which means most items don't have a permanent home at a particular library (except magazines, reference materials, local history/genealogy materials). As you suggested, the items stay where they land when they are turned in. There is a lot of movement of items due to the filling of holds to be picked up at other libraries, and the community libraries often transfer items to bigger libraries when their shelves have too much in one area and they need more space.
Best regards,
Jenny
PPLD IT Department
jpierce@ppld.org
Cell Phones and PPLD (Sand Creek)
First off let me say that I love all that PPLD has to offer from books, music, movies and intranet usage. My complaint is the useage of cell phones being talked on while people are using the computers (Sand Creek branch). I use this library twice a week and almost always theres a person or two talking on cell phone as if they are at home. Last week the whole hour I was on the computer a lady talked the entire time. A librarian even saw and yes heard the lady talking and said nothing. It looked from what I saw that the Librarian didn't want any confrontation. I can only speculate that was case from what I saw. I have in the past asked someone to please quite down or please put their cell phone away. It only ended with them getting an attitude and continuing to use the phone. What I'm getting at is can't all PPLD have no cell phone use and enforce it? The 8th street branch has sighns posted at every computer and I have never seen or hear anyone using cell phones there. Thank you so much for your time.
Cell Phone Usage
I love this library. I utilize the Penrose branch because, like so many others around me, it's warm when the weather is cold and the shelter (for those of us who are homeless and in the shelter system) won't allow us to stay in the shelter.
I am thankful that cell phones are allowed here, personally. We are not allowed to use them (if they have a camera in them) at the shelter so the library is the only place to conduct business. I DO agree that there's a time and a place and IF a person has to use their phone, they should be cognizant of the people around them, not talking all loud and crazy. Being polite and using common sense is important so I'm glad that "Annonymous" brought it up. One function of security is to enforce that the phone usage is kept to a reasonable volume and tone. They do this very well, from what I've seen.
I sincerely hope that the library does NOT shut down the cell phone allowances-for those of us attempting to find or maintain work, we need a place to be able to do this...from myself, personally, I shall be very careful how much I use it- what I say and how I say it.
Cell Phone Usage at Sand Creek
Hello,
I am sorry to hear that your recent visit to Sand Creek Library was disappointing. We do allow cell phone use in the computer area as there are many situations where someone may need to be discussing something that they are handling on the computer. However, we also ask that all patrons be mindful of those around them. Staff will ask patrons to lower their voices or step away if we receive a complaint or someone is inappropriately loud. The next time you are in Sand Creek, please feel free to speak with a staff person if you are next to someone who is overly loud, and we can address the situation.
Thank you,
Becca Cruz
Sand Creek Library Manager
New Catalog
I love your new catalog. Esp. the "My Lists" feature. It's so nice to not have to worry so much about writing down everything I want to check out in the future ( list inevitably lost), so that everything won't come in at once. I have been using the Fountain Branch for 20 years now, and have always been so very happy with the staff. They are always very friendly/sociable. Thank you guys for doing such a great job!
new catalog
whatever happened to the saying "If it ain't broke,don't fix it!" Why don't you bring back the catalog card drawers? Did you have complaints about the old catalog? I doubt it. Makes me want to go to the Pueblo library, the catalog there is easier with same rsults as our old catalog. Don't waste money on this when new books are more important. More CD's more movies on DVD's, or more copies. Have enough books on certain subjects that you don't need to have an interlibrary search, hoping that some library has it.
The primary reason that the
The primary reason that the catalog was changed was to make searching easier for patrons. The number one complaint about our "old" catalog interface was the search mechanism, which did not allow for spelling errors or provide "did you mean", Google-like capability to the patrons. The new catalog does this, and provides other features which patrons have long requested, such as "faceted" searching (the ability to limit searches effectively from the first page, not having to go to an "advanced" search page, etc). We have had many positive remarks about the new catalog, as it addresses these issues. This newer technology will continue to be improved by our vendor, whereas the old interface will not be improved and will remain the same, as the vendor is putting their resources towards continued development of their new software. Regarding the cost question, the Library actually was able to upgrade to the newest version of the software without cost, which does, indeed, leave more money for materials and services. However, if you do not like the new catalog, the old interface is still available to you, and we will maintain it as long as possible. You can use the old catalog at http://classiccat.ppld.org.
Sincerely,
Carolyn K. Coulter
Information Technology and Virtual Services Officer
Teen Scene book lists
I'd say that I have to laugh each month when I receive the "Teen Scene" book list, but it's really no laughing matter. The selection of titles is, every time, a sad commentary on the times. Rarely do we find even one title on the list worth pursuing. Is this really the best today's authors have to offer our youth? Feeding their minds with such fodder, junk, and poison is asking for a future of limited intellect and diminished principle. Simply being newly published does not make a book worthy of attention, much less the time required to read it. I am dismayed for the families that rely on the Teen Scene lists to select reading material for their youths. It would be encouraging to see librarians use more discernment in making recommendations to teen readers. Of course, that would take much more effort than simply regurgitating a list of new trash put out by the publishing machine. But let's strive for that higher bar......our youth deserve it!
The Teen Scene email
The Teen Scene email newsletter is a product that the library subscribes to through EBSCO. The choice of books for any of the NextRead newsletters are based on reviews from trusted review sources, as well as the expertise of EBSCO bibliographers, who are all Librarians by profession. The lists created are certainly not all inclusive of any genre but are meant to be representative of what’s new and popular, as well as older titles that might be of interest. We know that the recommendations won’t be to everyone’s tastes or sensibilities. These lists are trying to reach a broad audience. Our intent is not to regurgitate every title that publishers put out, but to give a small representation of the best reviewed titles, as well as the most widely purchased by public libraries, in any given theme. NextReads also offers a “Tween Scene” newsletter with titles that are generally a cleaner category with perhaps less controversial titles.
We will try to offer a wider variety of suggestions in the Teen Scene newsletter.
PPLD has also created many teen booklists that are available at http://ppld.org/find-good-book-teens.
Thank you for your feedback,
Kaitlin Hoke
Teen Services Coordinator
new library page
I do not like the new library catalog. I find it hard to use and understand. I feel that you are trying to reach out to the younger patrons but are forgetting us older ones. The ones that have a hard time with technology. I have been spending the past 20 minutes just trying to put a book on hold.
jan
Hi there. We're sorry you
Hi there. We're sorry you are having a difficult time adjusting to the new Catalog. However, we feel the new search mechanism is vastly superior to the current one and have not taken to this change lightly. Perhaps the following instructions will help you place items on hold:
http://ppld.org/placing-holds
We appreciate you taking the time to write us. Please call the Library at 389-8968 if you require further assistance.
Sincerely,
Virginia Franklyn
eAudiobook vs CD Book
I think the eAudiobooks are great, but why have the amount of CD Books in the locations become so limited? I have a long drive to/from work and the eAudiobooks don't do me any good. Is there a way to request a CD Book be ordered to a certain branch??
Hi there. Absolutely. Just
Hi there. Absolutely. Just follow these instructions to place an item (in this case, a CD Book) on hold: http://ppld.org/placing-holds
Please call the Library at 389-8968 if you require further assistance. Thank you for your message.
Sincerely,
Virginia Franklyn
library hours
I had a great idea to start studying at my local branch every morning. But then I realized they don't open until 10am.... I don't know about other library customers but I just find 10am to be very inconvenient for people who get up early and want to start their days and not wait until 10 to hunker down on studying. If I go at 10 I don't have a lot of real study time before I need to leave for lunch and going back and forth between my house and the library is kind of a hassle. Plus walking in the hotter 10am weather in the summer is a drag. I like studying there but it just became an inconvenience. Why do the libraries not open earlier?
Library Hours
Hi, Caitlin,
There are several reasons for the current start at 10 a.m. There is a lot of preparation time in the morning that staff must accomplish before we open. We also have meetings that are held in the morning before we open and we have long hours as you know until 9 p.m. The staff also conduct many classes particularly computer classes and story times prior to 10 a.m.
That said, we have begun to talk about opening at 9 a.m. and are trying figure out if that would mean closing earlier. Our staff is limited and we are not in a position to add staff so we probably would have to cut hours somewhere else. We noted that the 8-9 hour in the evening is slow at most sites, except for computer use. We will study use patterns and at some point probably survey patrons about new hours.
Thank you for posing this question.
Sincerely,
Sydne Dean
Associate Director of Public Services
Your goofy site
PPLD website is not user friendly. What on earth do you mean by "Homepage" above, for example? Most likely you bought the site as a package with mildly customized graphics. But, the functions are neither obvious nor reliable, so far as I have been able to tell. Part of the problem is the graphics: SHOUT CHECK OUT, don't hide it. Another example: I truly doubt the library has no books by Justice Scalia. If you have them, why hide them? And if you don't have any, then maybe there is a problem there also. The search function is just painful. I have no confidence in any result. Where is the button to send this comment? Is it the "Preview" button? That is not an obvious choice, at least to me. From the rejection of my comment, I deduce that you are asking if I have a homepage. Sorry, I don't. What does that have to do with making a comment? Your site is like a Swiss Army knife without a blade.
Hi there. Homepage means
Hi there. Homepage means your website, if you have one. It is not a required field. I'm not entire sure what you mean by 'shout check out'. Links to the Catalog and My Account are on every page of the website. If you do a basic search for 'Justice Scalia' you will get 3 items in the results. Preview is required of all comments so you can review your work before you submit it. All comments are moderated, which is why you didn't see this comment appear immediately.
We've done extensive usability studies on this website and have had overwhelmingly positive feedback on it. I'm sorry you found it difficult to use. Please feel free to contact me if you need further assistance.
Virginia Franklyn
Web Developer
vfranklyn@ppld.org
719-531-6333 x1129
Evacuation
Oops! We were evacuated due to the Waldo Canyon fire and didn't get all of the library materials out of the house. Assuming we have a house in a few days, can we do anything about DVD and book fines? I imagine we aren't the only ones in this situation, sadly.
Hi there. When you get the
Hi there. When you get the chance to return them, just let us know what happened and we'll take care of it. So sorry you are evacuated.
Local Author Donations
Hello,
My novel TWISTED ROOTS is being released June 19, 2012. However, I would like to donate copies around to the local libraries, and I'm not sure how to go about it.
The book can be searched on Barnes and Noble's website--listed for pre-sale orders. I do have my pre-release copies to donate if possible. :-)
Thank you for your time.
Shelly
Thank you for letting us know
Thank you for letting us know about your book.
To find information about getting your book added to PPLD, go to our website. On the left side of the screen use the pulldown menu under "How do I?" Click on "Get my book added to PPLD". Donations are subject to the same criteria as items considered for purchase.
Interlibrary loans unavailable to me
I feel like a third-class citizen. I have lived in this community for twenty-five years, and I have used various branches of the Pikes Peak Library, but this is the first time I have tried to get a microfilm loan from another state. I was informed in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to ask for an interlibrary loan because I live in Widefield. Why am I able to use the library at all, if I don't pay taxes for it? El Paso County takes their share, Security takes their share, Widefield School District Three takes their share, but I can't look at microfilm? Even if I pay for it? This is ridiculous. Why do you even have a branch in Fountain? They aren't in Colorado Springs. They are always friendly and helpful, but I won't be patronizing them anymore - wouldn't want to use someone else's tax dollars. Andrew Carnegie is probably rotating in his grave.
Interlibrary Loan
Dear Ms. Treat,
When the Pikes Peak Library District was formed in El Paso County, two communities elected not to join -Widefield Security and Manitou Springs. The Pikes Peak Library District does not receive funding from the County or from the City. The library is supported by the tax payers who are part of the District. Citizens from Widefield Security and Manitou Springs pay taxes to support the Manitou Public Library and the Security Widefield Public Library. You may use your 700 card to check out items from PPLD. That is part of a statewide library card initiative. However, Interlibrary Loan and the databases each library purchases are not covered under the state wide library card. The Security Widefield Library can obtain the Interlibrary materials that you need. I am sorry for the inconvenience.
Care of Books
Since my kids were little, I have taught the value of treating books with care so others might enjoy them. As a baby boomer before there was so much electronic media we needed to make them last. Now they are teens and have integrated this value into their actions. So to my surprise, as we were leaving the Rockrimmon library one day, we observed a PPLD employee, possibly in her 20's, tossing books and media between the return bins, with little care of possible damage or awareness others might see this as wrong. My thought and response to my kids was PPLD probably needs to train the new younger generation of employees what a precious recource books are. PS-You're library system is still number one on my list!
I am sorry that you saw an
I am sorry that you saw an employee not taking care of library materials. People who work in a library also share your values of taking care of our books and other items. In fact that is why many of us decided we wanted to work in a library. We wanted to share the joy of reading, and we value the importance of preserving information for future generations. When we are looking at large volumes to process, we can at times forget about the care that is needed when trying to get to the bottom of the stack. Thank you for your comments and reminder that we need to take care of our materials so that they may be enjoyed by all for a long time. I will be reminding staff about the proper treatment of materials.
Julianne Rist
Library card catalog
I use PPLD's library resources daily and enjoy putting items on hold. One of the problems I have experienced is not getting a good description of a book when considering what to put on hold or to recognize whether I have read that particular title already. I will go to another library's web-site and look up the title there to get a good description. Is there any improvements that can be made to PPLD's card catalog to achieve this?
Hi there. We're sorry our
Hi there. We're sorry our descriptions are substandard for your needs. Unfortunately we purchase this data from a third party vendor and have no control over the content. What library website are you visiting aside from ours, may I ask? If they use a different vendor I could pass that information along to the staff in charge of the Catalog. Thanks!
Ms. Miller's Message
Thank you for addressing this subject. You are so correct that "reading" is changing. But change is inevitable in any era. However, collecting, storing and dispursement of information is for all time. The library in any community serves so many needs. It would take a "book" for me to list them all. In just my family, our entire life would be completely different and much less rich without the library. Our past 30 years have been spent in many of the PPLD branches for activities, reading, listening, studying, socializing(oops!), cuddling, learning, caring, and growing. The concept of the library enriches a society and makes us better citizens. We can always depend on going to the library and finding a friendly helper/clerk/librarian. In PPLD we have always found every research help and any activity we wanted or needed. I personally know it does not have to be this way. Thank you, thank you so much. Please be encouraged and know we NEED the library and appreciate every single person who does anything to keep it stay active!
Best Library in all my Military Travels
I often tell each library and I use many that it is the best I've ever seen and I have been to many. Your user friendliness from computers, to e-mail reminders, to being able to do business interchangebly all over town--PPLD is made for the mondern lifestyle.
My home library is Rockrimmon--just a small matter but I am sure easily fixable. While my home computer has been in the shop I have been using the library computers. Their new placement near the employees desk is very distracting with all the loud employee conversations with each other and customers throughout the whole day. Could someone look at this arrangement.
Again, thank you for all you do for me and my kids!
Thanks for the kind words.
Thanks for the kind words. I'll let Rockrimmon know about your comment.
eHold 72 hour requirement doesn't work
Went to check out eHold title at 70 1/2 hours . . . no longer available. If 72 hours isn't sufficient, then it shouldn't be used as the minimum. Why is there a difference between regular shelf holds (7 days) and eHolds (3 days)?
library webpage
Your webpage is unusable. The page is set up so that when you try to click and find out when branches are open, the information, including the phone number for the branch is covered by a box with icons for Kids Web, Teen Zone and Senior Connection. Your web people are not doing a good job. What is the point in having a web page if there is no way to access the information posted in it?
We are sorry to hear you are
We are sorry to hear you are experiencing problems viewing the library website. We spoke with our IT department, and we have some suggestions for how to make the site properly viewable on your computer screen.
In Internet Explorer:
Click on the View menu
Hover the mouse over Zoom, and you should see different settings for how to view your screen.
Set the zoom to 100%.
While on this menu, you may also need to check the text size. Medium is the recommended size for the text.
In Firefox:
Click on the View menu
Point to Zoom, you can either zoom in or out until you can see the website properly, or click on Reset, which should reset your view screen to 100%
Both of these settings are easily changeable if you should like to change them back afterwards.
Finally, the computer screen resolution could be affecting the way the website appears on your screen. If the resolution is set for 640x480, the website will not display properly. Any higher resolution should work properly.
This information is all we are able to suggest because we do not know the configuration of your computer. You may want to consult your owner's manual or online help for further screen resolution information.
Location of meeting rooms
Dear Ms. Miller,
I am passing along the following comment that I received after I emailed the local Great Books that I knew the name of our meeting room in the downtown library for but not its location within the library.
A member of the group wrote: "Isn't it strange that the PPLD web site does not have a diagram of each branch library, especially East and Penrose? They even list the meeting rooms at the Penrose branch but do not give the dimensions and layout and location of each. But, they do have lots of rules, like what you can't do...."
Please consider remedying this omission. After all, you're the information place!
Many thanks for all you do,
Wendy Demandante, longtime patron
summer reading program
From the ppld.org homepage, if you click on PPLD/TV there is a (very cute) short summer reading promo spot that gives information about the summer reading program. Take a look! Let's get all our kids reading this summer!
I LOVE PPLD and Summer Reading
As a fellow librarian, I am always amazed and thrilled to see that the East parking areas are always so full, and people line up outside to get in in the AM. What a wonderful service you provide to the community!
If I were to buy all of the books that I read, I wouldn't have any space in my house to move around, AND I would bankrupt myself. :) So, I turn to PPLD to see if you have the titles that I am interested in, and you almost always do--thank you so much!
On another note, I find the new interface very cluttered and without much contrast, so I wasn't able to find any info about your summer reading programs. I would like to put links on my school library page, if possible, and have my Reading teachers talk about them. I hope you can help!
Lorna Stiefvater
Hi Lorna. Summer Reading
Hi Lorna. Summer Reading will run from June 1 to July 31. We should have some info up on ppld.org soon. Sorry for the delay.
PPLD rocks!
PPLD rocks!