While ebooks are pretty common these days and where information can be readily found with a few clicks of the mouse and a few strokes on the keyboard, there is still the need for libraries where tons of reference books can still be found, plus sometimes asking a knowledgeable librarian for help can sometimes yield better results than a Google search.
That being said, Google seems to understand the importance of libraries and librarians because they have announced a partnership with the American Library Association on a project called “Libraries Ready to Code”. This is an initiative that is meant to help librarians across the US familiarize themselves with the concept of coding, which in turn will help them pass that knowledge down to children and point them in the right direction.
According to Crystle Martin, Secretary of the Young Adult Library Services Association, “Libraries and library staff can create opportunities for youth to gain basic exposure and a basic interest in coding. From there, with support and mentorship from librarians and staff, they can develop long term engagement and possibly computer science as an envisioned future.”
While this won’t transform your average librarian into some super coder, we guess at the very least it should make them more familiar with the concept and introduce that to children who might be looking for some help in that area.