Ep. 107 The Nuts & Bolts of CSLP and CSL Summer Resources

Sunshine and Stories Episode 107: The Nuts & Bolts of CSLP and CSL Summer Resources 

Episode Summary:
The Collaborative Summer Library Program’s 2025 program manual is live! So we’re digging into all the resources CSLP and the Colorado State Library (CSL) have available to help you plan next summer’s library program in and with your community. Manuals, toolkits, printables, programs in a box, and more. This week listen and learn a little bit more about everything CSLP and CSL have to offer. 

00:00 – Introduction
01:24 – What the heck is CSLP?
03:55 – CSLP’s 2025 resources
06:36 – Don’t forget to review the CSLP Rules of Use
09:58 – And what’s the State Library got for me?
15:20 – A few CSLP program manual highlights
16:16 – Closing  

References:
Collaborative Summer Library Program
CSLP Rules of Use Guide
Colorado Virtual Library website
Colorado Youth Services Network mailing list
Quick Bites: 20-Minute Early Literacy Talks
CSL Kits program kit collection
CSL Book Club Resource 

Reach Kate Brunner at: brunner_k@cde.state.co.us and Kate Compton at: compton_k@cde.state.co.us   

Next Drop-in Chat:
Hey Colorado library folks! Join us on November 5, 2024 at 11:00 am to noon Mountain Time for our next 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. 

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here. 

This project is made possible in part by a grant from the US Institute of Museum and Library Service. 

Transcript

Sunshine and Stories podcast transcript for Episode 107     

[00:00] [music] 
Kate Compton: You're listening to Sunshine and Stories, a Kate-cast from the Colorado State Library's summer design studio with your hosts,    

Kate Brunner: Kate Brunner    

Kate Compton: And Kate Compton.    

Kate Brunner: Tune in every other week as we explore one summer reading topic. From colorful program ideas to community wide engagement to avoiding burnout, we have got you covered.    

Kate Compton: If you have other questions or want to dive into any topic further, check out Libraries Learn.org for our next live summer drop in chat date happening Tuesdays starting this fall.    

[00:41] 
Kate Compton: The Colorado Capitol Building was designed by Elijah E. Myers and its construction lasted from 1886 through 1901. It has Colorado gold on its towering dome, granite from Gunnison, and Yule marble from Marble Colorado. The pink stone seen throughout the capital is rose onyx, discovered near Beulah Colorado. This coloration of onyx has never been found anywhere else in the world. 

This iconic landmark is a great example of Colorado's colorful natural resources and serves as the perfect metaphor for today's topic, the nuts and bolts of CSLP and summer resources. 

[01:24] 
Kate Compton: All right, so people are jumping into their summer planning, and we want to share a bunch of tools that we have available for them. So, I wanted to start with: What the heck is CSLP, Kate? Who are they? What are they? Why do I care? 

Kate Brunner: [laughs] That is a great place to start. CSLP is an acronym that stands for the Collaborative Summer Library Program. 

The Collaborative Summer Library Program is a nonprofit run by an Executive Director and a small staff, and then also by a volunteer board. That volunteer board is a lot of representatives from different state libraries, and then also folks from member libraries, frontline staff, folks from member libraries who are volunteering their time to serve to help support the organization. 

And then there are state reps appointed for each state that has a state level membership. And then lots of different committees of volunteer library professionals across the country who help with all kinds of different things: putting together the manual, addressing whatever hot topics might be up in summer programming that might need material in the manual, maintaining the website, setting up the store. all kinds of different things. Anyone who is in a member state can volunteer, so if someone is interested in perhaps helping put together the summer library program manual some year or getting involved with CSLP, or any other way, let us know because I'd be happy to connect you with them about how you can volunteer. 

In Colorado, we maintain a state level membership and what this does is gives every Colorado library branch, so basically every library building, access to the summer manual for each year. And actually, one thing I want to note is that your manual access for the year, whatever that theme is, that manual includes your access to the archive as well. That login that we get every year and send out to Colorado libraries actually also gives you access to the archives of previous years. So, if you are ever looking for program ideas at any point in time during the year, you can always go back and look around through old Collaborative Summer Library Program manuals, if you need some inspiration.  

So, we provide that every year at the state level, we pay for our state membership and we pay for manual access for all of our libraries. In addition to the online manual access, we also usually order a handful of hard copy program manuals for anyone who has difficulty accessing them online. 

[03:41] 
Kate Compton: Wow. So if you're just getting started with summer for the first time, you have a whole nation supporting you with ideas and artwork and all the things. I love it. What tools are available for libraries in 2025? 

Kate Brunner: So, there are going to be all sorts of things available in addition to the manual. You know, the manual usually contains program ideas, printables the artwork for the year, which we'll talk a little bit more about in a second. 

Cslpreads.org is the Collaborative Summer Library Program’s website. They also maintain a collection of free webinars and host an online free Summer Symposium every year. This year, it's going to be on Thursday, December 5th, 2024 for Summer 2025 and the symposium is always also recorded and available. So, if you aren't available that day to attend those sessions live, then you'd still be able to watch the recordings. In particular, there's a series of webinars hosted on their site, linked from their YouTube page on inclusivity and summer. It's under their Inclusion Resources page if you're curious about what might be there in that particular library. There are also some other materials available on cslpreads.org. There is a page about summer food programs. Again, all the information you would need to know how to volunteer with CSLP and a little bit about the history of the organization. 

Another thing that is fun to know is that the future themes and slogans are listed there as well. The organization plans several years in advance and solicits member input every year on the potential themes and slogans for future years. So, keep an eye out as well for opportunities to suggest slogans or themes. You know, we usually send that out on the listservs and then collect all that up and submit Colorado's ideas to the national organization every year. And then there are also usually listening sessions once they cut to a final list where you can give feedback on upcoming themes and slogans. So that's another way to participate in the organization too.  

And then the other online resources that I would mention are the Collaborative Summer Library Program does maintain a Facebook group, a moderated Facebook group. There is a lot of idea sharing and support not only through the planning process, but also throughout the summer when people are, you know, eyeball, deep and actually doing their programming. And there's a lot of cheering each other on, celebrating each other's successes. And it's a nationwide group, so that can be a fun place to get ideas and to support each other or ask questions. If you are on Facebook or your library is on Facebook, that might be a group that you might want to take a look at joining. And there's a really great Pinterest board that the Collaborative Summer Library Program maintains, and there are actually already board set up for 2025, for Color Our World. So, they’re already building some pins there. And there’s a space set up for 2026. No pins yet at the time that we're recording, but I'm sure some are coming soon. 

[06:36] 
Kate Compton: So we got the support. Is there anything that we need to, as Colorado librarians, need to know about or any kind of rules or things that we need to think about before we dive into the manual and planning our summers with it? 

Kate Brunner: Yeah, that's a great point to bring up. There is a set of rules of use for the slogans, the artwork, and the material in the manuals. As member libraries, which all Colorado libraries are member libraries, you have access to the use of the slogan, the use of the artwork and the use of the other materials that are in the manual as well every year. So the slogan, however, when you use it should have still have that trademark like TM. 

Also, we're not supposed to remove the copyright info from the CSP artwork. So when you're using the files, make sure you don't place anything over that or edit that out when you're using the artwork. And the slogan artwork and manual ideas, if you're using them on social media posts or other marketing should give credit to the Collaborative Summer Library Program. Cite your sources, right? Acknowledge where you got the materials from. 

And there are sample attribution statements, so you can just copy and paste from the CSLP Rules of Use page on their website. So that is available there along with contact information. If you have a particular case scenario where you're not quite sure whether or not what you want to do falls within the rules of use, you know when in doubt, ask. So, you can reach out to CSLP and double check. 

One of the questions that we get sometimes at the State Library is, “Can I use the slogan and not use the artwork?” If you want to create your own art to match your libraries branding, but you still want to use the slogan and the theme and you know use activities from the manual, you can do that. However, you've got to keep the trademark symbol with the slogan and you really still need to have that attribution statement on all the materials that you use. 

Kate Compton: What about if we every summer do T-shirts or tote bags? Maybe water bottles? And we want to use the CSLP artwork on our own materials that we're giving away. 

Kate Brunner: That's a really great question. Before you set up something like that, before you move forward with something like that you must get permission from the Collaborative Summer Library Program. If you want to use the artwork on physical items like that, you have to have a release statement by them in order to be able to use that. And in most situations, whatever printer you're using is going to ask you for that anyway. They don't want to be printing something they don't have permission to print in the first place. So, if that is something you want to consider, then you absolutely need to reach out. Use the contact information that's on the Rules of Use page and reach out to the Collaborative Summer Library Program first.  

Something to keep in mind is that CSLP is a nonprofit and they are mostly volunteer run, and they run on a very tight budget. They do have a store on their website and so if your library has the budget for CSLP-themed materials from the store, that's an option you can consider. And then you don't have to go through the process of requesting permission and you know potentially not getting that permission if what you want to do doesn't fit within the rules of use. And so that's something that you can take a look at. There's new merchandise every year, based on the CSLP theme, and you can order directly from them as a member library. 

[09:58] 
Kate Compton: So, we've talked kind of about CSLP and all of the resources available to libraries there. What about? What does the state library provide for folks? 

Kate Brunner: This year we have this podcast series that we hope is acting as a discussion starter, sort of an idea spark, a jumping off point. We're kind of inspired by the Growing Readers Together Quick Bites webinar series and thought you know can we provide sort of these small, easily digestible jumping off points on various topics related to summer? And kind of have these ready to go for people to be able to listen to whenever they are able, to kind of help inspire them and keep them thinking about summer and inspired about summer. And then we've also paired those with these drop-in discussion sessions this year. 

And we'll be holding those from August all the way through to May. And you can come when you can. So you don't have to come to every one. The calendar is on Libraries Learn.org, but you can just pop in and see what the discussion is that day. We are using the podcast episode sort of as our jumping off point for each drop-in discussion to kind of kick off the discussion. But if something is on your mind about your summer planning and you want to come talk about it, please come to the drop-in sessions because they're definitely designed to be flexible and for us to kind of follow the conversation wherever the people in the room need it to go in order to support their definition of success for their summer program. So those are like probably our two major strategies this year to support you.  

And then I will say there is also a wealth of resources available on Libraries Learn.org. So, while you're checking on the dates for the drop-in discussions that are happening via Zoom which are on the calendar there, check out the rest of the calendar. Or even if you're interested in a particular topic, you're looking for different ideas about outreach or anything else, use the search box there on Libraries Learn.org because there are all kinds of archived webinars and learning pathways that might lead you where you're looking to go. 

We're also posting our podcast episodes on the Colorado Virtual Library website. And because we're using a platform manager they are accessible via most podcasting platforms that are out there. So you can use your favorite podcasting platform to listen. But you could also go to the Colorado Virtual Library if you like too, and they will be accessible on that website along with full transcripts. And that's where our show notes will be as well. 

Kate Compton: Kate, are there any physical ways that people can get support from the Colorado State Library? 

Kate Brunner: Yeah, we actually maintain a collection of book club kits and program kits and other resources. And so, we will include the link to access those in the show notes. But you basically check those out. They're a library of book club kits and a library of programs in a box and you request those. You can even place holds on them. If somebody has the one you want, you can, you know, call dibs on next in line. You set up an account through there and you can request those. And we send those via the courier out to folks to use in their libraries, and then they can send them back when they're done. And we have book club kits and program kits for all ages, itty bitties through adults. So, definitely take a look. Check out that collection and see if there's anything you might want to use. 

And then I would say, us as well. We're another resource. Anytime I can get the opportunity to sort of remind people that we are librarians for librarians, so we are here for you. If you have questions, you're looking for a particular resource, definitely, please reach out to us. We're also just happy to be your summer planning thought partners anytime you need one. You can always reach out even if you just want to have a chat about what you're thinking for summer. We're definitely always excited to hear what people are up to so you don't have to have a particular question. Maybe you just want to share or celebrate. We're here for that too. 

Kate Compton: Yeah, I love that we get to hear a lot of the great things that are happening around the state. And I also want to plug just the listservs. I think that's a way where if you're struggling with something and you're not sure how people are finding experts or if they've used somebody, throw it out there. See who else around the state maybe has an idea or has used that person. Because we get excited about hearing from each other and I think sometimes the libraries don't always get that same excitement. They aren't hearing from each other and that's a great way to kind of connect with and have some other support around the state too. 

Kate Brunner: Yeah, definitely. Thanks for reminding everyone about the listservs as well. So you have lots of different ways to reach out and lots of different ways to engage and find support with summer planning. And if none of those resources fit the bill, we are happy to go hunting for you. So, send us your reference questions and yeah, we'll take those on and see what we can find to help you achieve the success you want to achieve. 

[14:52] 
Kate Brunner: Instead of book recommendations this week, let's talk about a few highlights from the recently released 2025 Color Our World Collaborative Summer Library program manual. This year's manual is divided into different categories related to creative arts in a very broad sense. When Kate Compton and I recorded our very first episode of this podcast and brainstormed all sorts of different ways to think about this year's Color Our World theme, we actually had no idea that the folks on the CSLP manual committees were already way ahead of us. 

In this year's manual, you'll find chapters on drawing and painting fiber arts, photography, storytelling, and more. In each chapter there are program ideas for adults, tweens, teens and children, as well as ideas for multi-generational events. There are also ideas for self-directed programs and what they are calling this year, “Quick Crafts”. And as always, you'll also find a selection of printables like trackers, coloring sheets and other things, as well as book lists ready for you to just grab and go. Those book lists also include books that are available in Spanish. 

If you still need our Colorado access code, please reach out to me or to Kate Compton. If you're listening from another state, you'll need to reach out to your Collaborative Summer Library Program State Rep. You should be able to find their contact info on CSLP's web page. For those in Colorado, our e-mail addresses are in this week's show notes. Give us a shout and we'll make sure we hook you up. 

[16:16] 
Kate Brunner: That's our Kate cast for today, y’all but we hope you'll join the upcoming community drop in discussion.    

Kate Compton: We're hosting these discussions all year long. All Colorado library professionals involved in summer programming are welcome. No need to register, stay for the full hour or just pop in to say hi to colleagues across the state. Details for the next drop-in session can be found in the show notes for this episode and on Libraries Learn.org the Colorado State Library’s continuing education calendar and archive.    

Kate Brunner: We'd like to say thank you to all the Colorado library professionals who shared book recommendations, program successes and other artful ideas with us as we were designing this year's podcast. This project is also made possible by a grant from the US Institute for Museum and Library Services.    

Kate Compton: Thanks for joining us and we'll catch you next time.    
[17:03] [music]