Carson City Library’s NCLab Coding Camps have been named a top 10 summer learning program by the Young Adult Library Services Association.
“Everyone at the Carson City Library is so grateful for this national recognition,” said Carson City Library Director Sena Loyd. “We strive to make the library an active place of learning for the community. Our lifelong learning coding program through NCLab is something we are very proud of, and we are more than happy to see the creativity of our staff and the participation of our community come together in a way that will broaden the skill-set of patrons who take and participate in NCLab this summer.”
The 2016 YALSA list includes innovative library programs from across the country. Each winner will receive a gift pack of YALSA books and swag. Entries were submitted via YALSA’s teen programming site, Teen Programming HQ, which is a network for library staff to find and share program ideas and issues related to planning, implementing and evaluating library programs for and with teens.
According to Carson City Librarian Aubrey White, the library partnered with both the Nevada State Library and Archives and NCLab to provide the coding camps over spring break and summer vacation.
NCLab is a public cloud computing program that focuses on STEM education. The library’s NCLab course is designed as a game. Students navigate a robot through a maze using computer coding. They work at their own pace while instructors provide one-on-one assistance. Participants learn the basics of coding, Python programming language and 3D modeling.
“By the end of the camp, students will also be better equipped to engage in problem-solving activities, since a major focus of the NCLab courses is to teach students that it is acceptable to fail and to find multiple solutions to a problem,” White said. “Students will learn to be creative as they complete tasks in the course, and they will develop planning and decision-making skills.”
The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face and in putting all teens on the path to successful and fulfilling lives.
For more information about YALSA, visit www.ala.org/yalsa, or call 800-545-2433, ext. 4390, or email yalsa@ala.org.
For more information about Carson City Library summer programs, visit www.carsoncitylibrary.org.