The computer and the Internet are the defining inventions of our modern era. They lie at the center of our discussions about the economy, libraries, government services, communications and civil society. Our patrons are curious to learn how to harness the power of these new technologies, not just use them to passively consume entertainment. At the same time the evolving requirements of technological literacy are making programming a more useful tool in personal and professional settings. While digital fluency is vital for all New Yorkers, access to computer science instruction is not evenly distributed across the City. NYPL’s commitment to diversity and inclusiveness make it an ideal forum to reach communities currently underrepresented in the programming community.

While NYPL has a 20 year history offering technology classes with trained staff, we had never offered classes this intensive on such an advanced subject. The Library partnered with online provider Codecademy to create a ten-week course introducing patrons to web programming. For four hours a week, students participated in in-class lessons, built a personal website and collaborated to build the website of a local small business participating in our Business Library’s start up competition. The combination of structured lessons with collaborative projects has helped engage many students who had struggled to learn computer programming on their own.

62 students attended the first Project_<code> classes in the summer of 2014 across four different libraries in the Bronx and Manhattan with 92% finishing the entire (then) eight week course. Each student left the course with a basic understanding of HTML and CSS along with the ability to build a website. The program reflects the great diversity of New York City. More than 40% of participants were black or Hispanic and 60% were female. On average, users reported incomes well below the median for New York City. As of April 2015, NYPL is offering our third session of the class, bringing our total students served to 200. Demand for the program continues to grow, with more than 2,000 additional patrons on our wait list.