Published: July 10, 2017

The Douglas County Library system is the newest library to join Prospector. Douglas County Library was established in 1966 by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners who appropriated $5,000 for library operations. The following year, philanthropist Philip S. Miller and his wife, Jerri donated an additional $25,000 for library construction and the library opened in August of 1967. In 1990 voters passed the Douglas County Public Library District, which created an independent taxing district to fund library operations.

In 2007 Douglas County Libraries (DCL) became the third largest public library system in Colorado and was ranked second in library circulation. This same year, it received the John Dana Cotton Award, a prestigious award from the American Library Association that honors exemplary library public relations. Today, this bustling library district serves a population of almost 300,000, has 7 branches and a local research center devoted to the preservation of history in Douglas County and surrounding areas.

The library’s program and services align with its mission to advocate for literacy and lifelong learning. DCL offers adult education and test prep which includes tutoring for ESL, basic literacy, and high school equivalency exam preparation. Programs dedicated to kids and teens include story times, homework help through BrainFuse, an online program and other online databases and resources. Bark for Books is another creative program through the library that supports reluctant readers by letting them read aloud to therapy dogs.

DCL has a rich and diverse collection of close to 700,000 items featuring ebooks, streaming services, digital magazines as well as classical literature, research items, popular fiction and more. DCL uses the Horizon system for the local catalog and connects to Prospector through a special server which translates communication between the local server and the Prospector INN-Reach catalog.

We welcome Douglas County Libraries to Prospector!