Our Work

Libraries that are Ready to Code are able to help communities invest in young people so that youth are:

• Ready to take on their future.
• Equipped with robust career options.
• Prepared to enhance the economic and social vitality of the places they live.

Libraries Ready to Code is a project of the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy. Through research, continuing education, and resource development the Libraries Ready to Code project aims to empower library staff working with youth and families to design computational thinking activities for informal learning settings.

• Phase I: First, Ready to Code conducted an environmental scan and explored what libraries are already doing in their communities to expose youth to promote the newest essential literacy: computational thinking.
• Phase II: The findings of Phase One suggested the primary need for librarians is to develop deeper coding program facilitation skills grounded in computational thinking design and Ready to Code concepts laid out in the report Increasing CS Opportunities for Young People. Phase 2 consists of a faculty cohort of seven participants selected by the project team that will redesign their current technology/media courses based on Ready to Code concepts and pilot the redesigned course at their institutions
• Phase III: The latest phase of the Libraries Ready to Code project provides support for a cohort of 25-50 libraries (depending on funding requests) to design and implement youth coding programs that incorporate RtC concepts and foster computational thinking skills. Through these programs, the library cohort will develop and launch a toolkit that will build the capacity of librarians to facilitate rich learning programs for youth. Please note: There will not be a new round of funding for a Libraries Ready to Code cohort in 2018.