Code Club

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The Code Club is a weekly program that is focused on introducing library customers of the Maricopa County Library District (MCLD) to computer programming. Originally, the program focused on children ages eight to thirteen, but was then expanded to seniors due to the overwhelming success with the children and the lack of programs of this nature for older adults. Our Code Club program model, developed in conjunction with Kelly Smith from Prenda software, is for the library to provide the computers and software to users while having librarians facilitate the self-paced learning of the participants as they advance through the various stages of the website to learn coding. The library staff members do not teach coding but instead encourage participants to use critical thinking skills while working together to solve coding problems. The outcome has been continual participation in the programs and an increased interest in computer programming amongst our customers, staff, and elected officials.