Generation Code: Born at the library

Publication date: October 4, 2017

By Ilona Kisch, Director of Public Libaries 2020

As we all know, digital skills such as coding are becoming increasingly important.  Public libraries have been innovating to meet the technological needs of their communities, providing millions of people access to the internet for the first time in their lives, and offering programmes in digital skills training.

Did you know that libraries play a very important role when it comes to non-formal learning? For both children and adults, Europe’s 65,000 public libraries are a uniquely accessible space for users to improve their digital skills.

 

 

Using different resources – mostly those available online like Scratch, Hour of Code or Code.org, but also thanks to the help and great enthusiasm of CoderDojo volunteers and code ambassadors – librarians from all over Europe have started offering coding classes to their communities.

Today in the EU, over 2,3 million people a year attend a digital literacy course in their library, learning anything from basic digital skills to coding!

 

 

Check out our website to get a hint of what is happening in countries like Belgium, Romania or Slovenia.

To celebrate EU Code Week and the amazing work that libraries do every day to improve the digital skills of our communities and introduce people to new technologies, an exhibition will be held at the European Parliament in Brussels on 17-18 October: Generation Code: Born at the Library – the interactive exhibition showcasing the top innovative digital exhibits from public libraries across the EU. It will be a unique opportunity to discover cutting-edge technology fresh from the EU libraries.

The visitors will be welcomed to the exhibition by Robot Zora and Robot Norma, from MuntPunt library in Belgium and DOKK1 library in Denmark, with whom they can make friends.

 

 

They can then be teleported to ancient Greece and chat with Pythagoras, thanks to the Virtual Reality Time Portal from the National Library of Lithuania.

There will be the chance to try 3D printing, thanks to the device brought by the Stadtbibliothek in Cologne, maybe with the plastic filaments recycled by the Smart Cycler bike from the Dutch Frysk Lab.

More information:

For more information please visit our website and follow us on Facebook and Twitter(@LibrariesEU) using #GenerationCode.