One of the many great reasons to work at Arthur Lakes Library is that it is located in one of the most beautiful and exciting areas in the country in which to live and play. Whatever your interests or hobbies, you can enjoy them here!

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CSM is located in Golden, a town of approximately 15,000 people tucked between Denver and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. CSM is the second-largest employer in town; the largest is the Coors Brewing Company, which offers free tours. Golden offers local open space and parks, walking and hiking trails, a community recreation center, various recreation activities, including a skateboard park, museums, the Foothills Art Center, and a world-class whitewater course for kayaking. Golden's physical location provides easy access to the mountains, and two major highways (Interstate 70 and Sixth Avenue) make it easy and quick to get to downtown Denver.

Golden is in Jefferson County, Colorado's most populous and wealthiest county. Jefferson County supports a multi-branch public library and a strong public school system.

Surrounding Denver proper are a number of independent suburbs, which together make up the Denver Metropolitan Area and bring the total population of the metro area to over 2 million people. This is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the U.S., with most of the growth attributable to a booming high-tech industry that stretches along the Front Range from Fort Collins (60 miles north) to Colorado Springs (60 miles south). While functioning as unique entities, these cities do cooperate in the Denver Regional Council of Governments, a voluntary association of 49 county and municipal governments in the metro area working together to address regional issues.

Colorado became a territory in 1861 and was admitted to statehood in 1876 as the 38th state. Built first upon mining and then upon agriculture, today Colorado derives significant revenue from tourism and outdoor recreation as well as high-tech and agriculture.

As part of the Denver metropolitan area, residents of Golden and surrounding communities (such as Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, and Arvada), have easy access to the Denver area's cultural and entertainment resources, many of which receive funding from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). The Scientific and Cultural Facilities Tax, approved in 1988 by voters in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties and extended for another decade in 1994, is a 0.1 percent sales tax that generates funds for over 200 local cultural institutions.

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is the home of the Denver Center Theatre Company, recipient of the 1998 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre; the Colorado Symphony, under the direction of conductor Marin Alsop; and Opera Colorado. The DCPA's Buell Theatre, built specifically to attract Phantom of the Opera, makes Denver a preferred stop for several touring Broadway shows each year.

Located in City Park, the Denver Zoo garnered international attention a few years ago with the birth and successful hand-raising of polar bear cubs Klondike and Snow, but it has been an extremely popular Denver attraction since its opening in 1896. Under director Clayton Freiheit, the Zoo has embarked on an ambitious program of facilities update and expanded its already considerable public education offerings. The most recent building project, Primate Panorama, provides world-class habitats for the Zoo's primates.

Sharing City Park with the Zoo is the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Famous for its dioramas, this natural history museum hosts several touring museum exhibitions and IMAX films annually. Prehistoric Journey, the story of the evolution of life on earth, is the Museum's largest permanent exhibition. The Planetarium is closed for renovation until 2003. The Museum offers lectures, field trips, and various programs for children.

Do you love plants? The Denver Botanic Gardens houses plants from around the world. It is one of the largest botanic gardens in the United States, consisting of not only the more traditional York Street Gardens but Chatfield Arboretum, a 350-acre site southwest of Denver that contains several High Plains ecosystems. The Gardens hosts classes and lectures, and is a popular site for jazz concerts.

A recent addition to Denver's Lower Downtown (LoDo) area is Ocean Journey, an aquarium that includes both freshwater and saltwater habitats. Its exhibits are centered around river ecosystems, but also include such critters as sea otters, coral reefs, jellyfish, and sharks.

Twenty-five miles up the road in Boulder, on the University of Colorado campus, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival presents four plays each summer. The company consists of graduate students (and a few upper-division undergraduates) drawn from MFA programs around the U.S., along with two actors who already have their Equity cards. Three of the plays are performed outside, under the stars, in a theatre that puts the audience up right up at the stage.

The Denver Broncos (football), Denver Nuggets (basketball), Colorado Avalanche (hockey), and Colorado Rockies (baseball) are Denver's four major sports teams. The Broncos will move into a new stadium for the 2001 season; the Nuggets and Avalanche play in the new Pepsi Center; and the Rockies play at Coors Field. Contrary to local myth, it is usually possible to get tickets to football and hockey games.

Front Range universities from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs represent the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (NCAA Division III), which is CSM's conference; the Big 12 Conference (NCAA Division I), Mountain West Conference (NCAA Division I), North Central Conference (NCAA Division II), Sun Belt Conference (NCAA Division II); and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Coloradans love the outdoors, and they have myriad opportunities to walk, hike, climb, camp, bicycle, ski, snowboard, snowmobile, hunt (with camera, gun, or bow), and fish, among other things. The Denver area has miles of walking/biking trails, many parks, and several public golf courses. The foothills have many short hiking and mountain biking trails, and the central mountains offer a wealth of year-round recreational possibilities within easy driving distance of Denver. From the grandeur of Rocky Mountain National Park through Colorado's many state parks, you can find someplace to do something you love.

The Colorado Mountain Club, based in Golden, sponsors activities, workshops, and films centering on the Rocky Mountain region and its outdoor resources.

Golden has a weekly local newspaper, the Golden Transcript. Denver is one of the few cities to still have two daily newspapers: the Denver Post and the Denver Rocky Mountain News. Although the newspapers merged business offices in 2000, they remain editorially independent.

The four major networks are represented in Denver by: KCNC Channel 4 (CBS), KMGH Channel 7 (ABC), KUSA Channel 9 (NBC), and KDVR Channel 31 (Fox). Denver also has a public broadcasting station: KRMA Channel 6.

Denver's major news radio station is 850 KOA, a 50,000 watt AM station that hosts news, talk, and sports.

• Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Salt Lake City, Utah and the Great Salt Lake
• Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park
• Billings, Montana
• Rapid City, South Dakota and the Black Hills
• Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska
• Amarillo, Texas

• Great Sand Dunes National Park (CO)
• Capulin Volcano National Monument (NM)
• Glenwood Springs Natural Hot Springs (CO)
• Colorado National Monument (CO)
• Arches National Park (UT)
• Canyonlands National Park (UT)
• Independence Rock (WY)
• Como Bluff Dinosaur Graveyard (WY)
• Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument (MT)
• Devils Tower National Monument (WY)
• Fort Laramie National Historic Site (WY)
• Badlands National Park (SD)
• Wind Cave National Park (SD)
• Scotts Bluff National Monument (NE)
• Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (NE)

There are lots of excellent web-based resources that can help you to find a place to live inside or outside the Golden area, if you choose to move here. Perhaps the best one is Metrolist's REColorado.com.