International Library and Cultural Exchange Interest Group

Ever wondered how to expand your library services abroad and connect with another country? CAL’s International Library & Cultural Exchange Interest Group has partnered with Sister Cities International to create a toolkit. In this toolkit, Sister Cities International (SCI) and Sister Libraries share best practices for developing long-lasting and successful relationships between libraries and Sister Cities. Check out this link to access the toolkit. Thanks to Tessy Walker, Library Supervisor of Hoffman Heights Library & Chambers Plaza Library and Nancy Bolt for their collaboration with SIster Cities International.

2024 Sister Libraries Toolkit

The toolkit has been shared with the permission of the Sister Cities.

We are excited to announce that we have awarded the grant to Elektra Greer, director of the Nederland Community Library, for her Nederland Community Library International Sister Library Student Exchange Program. Students from the Nederland, Colorado, area worked with students in The Netherlands to develop skills to address the issue of climate change. The project concluded with student exchanges during July, when, first, Dutch students visited Nederland and then Colorado students visited The Netherlands. The communities on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean welcomed the visitors and shared their unique activities, food, and cultural events; it was an unforgettable international experiential learning opportunity for all. Congratulations to Elektra for the library’s involvement in spearheading such a program!

Update!  Elektra Greer let us know that the American Embassy in the Hague is going to give her program over $20,000 to help them do their International Student exchange again next year! This award is a great tribute to Elektra’s hard work and dedication to cultural collaboration.

International Library and Cultural Exchange Interest Group

The International Library and Cultural Exchange Interest Group (ILCE-IG) grew out of the American-Bulgarian Library Exchange Project (1996-2011), which sought to create connections and cooperation between American and Bulgarian libraries. 

The ILCE-IG has extended its scope to encourage projects that foster relationships between Colorado Libraries and those of other countries, to help build and maintain libraries in communities overseas, and to celebrate non dominant cultures across Colorado.

ILCE-IG has two primary goals:

• Support individual and library partnerships and activities that enhance cultural understanding, and

• Support cultural programming and activities that celebrate diverse ethnic and immigrant cultures in Colorado.
  

We achieve these two goals through the following activities:

• Identify libraries in Colorado that have relationships with libraries outside the US

• Discuss how to stimulate cultural exchange between US and international libraries

• Offer programs at CAL on international cultural exchange

• Assist libraries to work with their international populations to support cultural exchange

• Build in the CAL website, international cultural information about countries with which Colorado Libraries have relationships

• Collaborate with existing CAL interest groups who have similar interest and focus

• Seek funding for cooperative projects between Colorado and international libraries

 
Please contact ILCE-IG Co-Chairs below with questions or visit the ILCE-IG website for more information.

Shannon Brennan
Kathleen Robertson

ILCE-IG Website