Looking Back at 2022 and Forward to 2023

As we welcome the new year, it’s a good time for the library to recognize our patrons and community for your trust and support. Thank you! We hope you will put January 13 on your calendar for the return of our Legendary Party – a family-friendly, community-wide night at the library!

When 2022 came around, we were still in the throes of the pandemic and taking care to keep each other safe and healthy. The Basalt Regional Library worked with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Governor’s Vaccines for All program to provide bi-monthly COVID vaccine clinics, free masks and free home test kits. Programs began to meet in person with limited numbers and you were able to utilize our new reservation system through Eventbrite. For those who prefer to continue using our Curbside TakeOut, that option is still available. What we learned from you was to be adaptable to maintain access to all the library’s resources.

And we have added to those resources! Hotspots for internet connectivity, laptops, chromebooks and ipads, book bundles, camping equipment, sewing machines and telescopes– all this in addition to our more traditional library collections are available to anyone with a library card. You may have noticed the just-installed electric vehicle charging stations in front of the main entrance to the library. We expect these to be up and running after the first of the year.

You showed up for a crazy number of new programs–Mountainfilm on Tour (coming again this February!), a workshop and jam session with Leftover Salmon, the Love Notes Project, Lunch With a Side of Murder, financial education workshops, Baby Gym, plus Author Talks, Music at the Library, Date Nights, Camp Out at the Library, and our Summer Reading Beach Party Kick Off! We hosted programs with the Roaring Fork Conservancy, A Way Out, Aspen Strong, Aperture of Hope, High Rockies Harm Reduction, The Art Base, the Aspen Institute, the Basalt Chamber of Commerce, Ride the Rockies, and the Basalt Regional Heritage Society. ​

With the generous support of the Basalt Regional Library Trust, we are now partners with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. This international program sends a book a month to children from birth to 5 years old to build their home library and literacy skills. The Friends Bookstore has provided needed funds for special requests from library staff, including the Summer Music Program. Our stalwart supporters of the Basalt Regional Library Foundation supplement our Collections Department with thoughtful additions to adult fiction. Additional funding was received this year from Alpine Bank; American Library Association/American Recovery Act; Aspen Ski Company Environment Foundation; Aspen Thrift Shop; Bessie Minor Swift Foundation; Carbondale Rotary Club; Charge Ahead Colorado; and the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Outdoor Equity Program.

Thank you for all you do for our library, and we look forward to seeing you at the Legendary Party on January 13, and at all the other amazing events coming up in 2023! Here’s to another great year at your library.