Library success in Scotland

Recently we were able to support the Scottish Library Information Council (SLIC) in promoting Code Club to libraries across Scotland, a project they financed through a grant from the Digital Xtra Fund.

Venue scouting

At Code Club, our aim is to ensure all young people have the skills, confidence, and opportunity to shape their world. In order to increase the chances that every child can attend a local Code Club, we are continually looking for new types of venues that can run clubs. To help us with our mission, from time to time we get the opportunity to cooperate with key organisations that share our aims.

The Scottish Library & Information Council

One such organisation is SLIC, and we have enjoyed working with the SLIC team over the last six months. With support from our Regional Coordinator for Scotland, Lorna Gibson,  two SLIC project officers organised a tour of training events at which library staff got to experience Code Club, with a view to giving them the confidence to start their own club. The team travelled around all of Scotland, running sessions in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, and Western Isles.

Gillian Daly, Head of Policy and Projects at SLIC, said:

“The ‘Code Club in libraries’ project has been very successful: 74 library Code Clubs have already been established as a result of it, with at least another 57 on the way. There has been lots of enthusiasm for Code Club from library staff, who have found the ready-to-use Code Club projects great fun to work through in the library.

The public library network stretches the length and breadth of the country, providing access to technology and the internet across communities. This means that libraries are ideal Code Club venues, and we are keen for all of our branches to host clubs in the future.

Over 150 library staff members across Scotland have been trained to help make this happen. We’d also like to work with volunteers to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to take part in a Code Club.”

Start a Code Club

If you’d like to start a Code Club in your library, find out more about hosting a Code Club here. And if you’d like to meet fellow Code Club volunteers and learn more from their experience, you can look for a local event on our events page.