Staff of the Castle Pines Library celebrate the branch’s first year anniversary. Pictured left to right – Joanne Fields-Daley, Jill Swanstrom, Amy Long and Deidre VanRy.

article and photo by Lisa Crockett

The Castle Pines Library is small – just 2,300 square feet – but the space located in the Village Square Shopping Center on Castle Pines Parkway has become an integral and important part of the community in the year since it opened last September.

“The staff of the library love it here; they have such a nice interaction with patrons.” said Sharon Lauchner, manager of the Castle Pines branch. “The community really supports this location of the library.”

After the failure of a ballot initiative that would have provided funds for the library, community volunteers sought an alternative route to a library for the Castle Pines community, holding fundraisers and raising awareness about the library in the process.

“It really was a grassroots effort that made this library happen,” said Lauchner. “Ever since the library has opened, we have felt continued support and usage has continued to increase.”

During the course of a single month, the library sees roughly 10,000 visits, processes 27,000 items and issues 75 new library cards – numbers that continue to rise each month the longer the library is open.

Lauchner and her staff look for ways to keep the library full during the hours it is open by finding useful and fun activities for patrons. Free WiFi is a strong attraction, as is story time for younger children and tutoring for school-aged patrons. A family story time on Tuesday evenings provides a time when working parents can come to the library with their kids, as does a bi-monthly mother-daughter book club. A monthly Tai Chi story time is particularly popular with families.

“We also work with the Castle Pines Chamber of Commerce to sponsor a business book club. We bring in speakers to talk to members of the club at the chamber of commerce,” said Lauchner. “The club recently read The Big Short by Michael Lewis, which continues to be on the New York Times Best Sellers List.”

The library uses technology to maximize its efficiency and keep costs down. Patrons can check materials out on their own using a bar-code scanning system and return materials through a new, state-of-the-art return box. Such technologies reduce the need for staff and allow librarians to focus on helping patrons with more difficult research questions.

Looking forward, Lauchner sees potential for the library to provide more innovation to patrons, and is looking forward to holding a back to school event involving crafts made with duct tape, of all things.

“It’s an opportunity to get kids together and just do something fun to get them excited about going back to school. With duct tape, you can make book covers, pencil cases and folders,” said Lauchner.

Other projects in the works include “Fancy Nancy” tea parties, events for girls based on the “American Girl” book series and a teen horror night, in which an “I Scream, Ice Cream Social” is planned.

The Castle Pines Library is open Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m, Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon until 5 p.m. For more information about library services, visit www.dcl.org.

It was a year ago this month that The Castle Pines Connection helped celebrate the grand opening of the Castle Pines Library.

LIBRARY FAST FACTS

Castle Pines Library Branch Manager: Sharon Lauchner (pictured above right).

Library Staff: Five full-time employees and five part-time employees.

Library Space: 2,300 square feet
(1,600 square feet of public space, 700 square feet staff work space).

Items available at the library for checkout: Roughly 12,500, more than double the number of available items on the book- mobile.

Hours open per week: 61
(the bookmobile was open for 29 hours per week).

Services available at the library: friendly staff, express computers, wireless Internet, informal reading areas, self check-out, and a children’s area.

Volunteers: The library welcomes volunteers,
call Sarah Tweed at the Castle Pines branch for details: 303-791-7323.