District Discovery - Summer 2026
The District Discovery is the premier publication of Colorado’s second-largest library system. It contains interesting stories about individual patrons and staff, and offers tips and tricks to get the most out of your library card.
Pick up your copy of the District Discovery at any PPLD Library location »
Featured Program
Adventure of a Lifetime – Summer Adventure
Krystal Arnold and Hannah Zwahlen grew up using Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) and participating in Summer Adventure, neither of them knowing they would eventually work for the Library and help kids and teens taking part in the District’s annual summer reading program.
Library Open Houses
You’re invited!
In celebration of Colorado’s 150th anniversary of statehood and the 250th anniversary of the U.S., Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) is hosting open houses at all our locations, plus our bookmobiles and Regional History & Genealogy department.
Enjoy activities and games, live entertainment, refreshments, and prizes as you explore the charms of each Library and discover what PPLD has to offer. You can also pick up a Library Passport and get it stamped at each Open House. Earn a prize when you collect seven stamps, and a second prize when you collect all 16.
We'll bring the food, fun, and prizes, you bring your friends and family!
Letter from the CEO
Thank you for picking up a copy of District Discovery! In these pages, you will learn more about three of Pikes Peak Library District's biggest annual initiatives: Summer Adventure, Mountain of Authors, and the Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium.
Early literacy is extremely important to the future success of an individual and the community they live in, and Summer Adventure provides fun incentives for reading and other activities. As you will learn inside this magazine, sometimes that future success includes working for PPLD and cultivating a love of learning in a younger generation.
Those young readers can also grow up to be authors, including fifth-generation Coloradan Randi Samuelson- Brown. She is the keynote speaker at this year’s Mountain of Authors event, which will also feature about 30 other local authors.
This year’s Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium will include an examination of the impact made by two former heads of PPLD, Margaret Reid and Kenneth Dowlin. I am honored to follow in their footsteps to lead an organization dedicated to improving the lives of the community we serve.
Teona Shainidze-Krebs
Chief Executive Officer
Pikes Peak Library District
Summer 2026 District Discovery Articles
Every time I tell my mother about something new the Library is doing, she says the same thing: “You should advertise this stuff!” And she is certainly not wrong, but she has unknowingly pointed out the conundrum of this big, beautiful puzzle that is a modern library: Does it need marketing?
Author Randi Samuelson-Brown, who writes what she calls “unflinching” history and historical fiction, recalls an evening she spent having dinner with some of her older relatives. They asked her about her choices of subjects: Why, they asked, didn’t she write about schools and churches and civic organizations — “nice people.” Her reply: “The other people are so much more interesting!”
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary and the State of Colorado turns 150 years old, the 2026 Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium will examine how our region has transformed Colorado over the years.
Past District Discovery Articles
