Spotlight Program: Ada Lovelace Day

Ada Lovelace portraitAt CMLE, we so enjoy all our different types of libraries, archives, and other members! Seeing all the work you are doing is so inspiring; and we want to return the favor by helping you to find some of the great programming going on around the profession.

Each week we will share an interesting program we find. It may inspire you to do exactly the same thing; or to try something related; or just to try out some different programming ideas. (On November 9, 2017, we will drop a podcast episode on Library Programming; you can tune in here to check it out! Or, of course, subscribe or stream to enjoy any of the episodes!)

At CMLE, we celebrate STEM programming!! You may want to get on board with the Ada Lovelace Day programming coming up in October! Ada is regarded as the first computer programmer – and we depend on her work today.

Have you been to Codeacademy? Lynda? EdX? Coursera? Girls Who Code? Black Girls Code? Scratch?

There are so many resources out there to help yourself, or your community members, learn to code! And when you do: think of Ada and all the great things she helped to make possible.

Celebrating women in STEM

“Ada Lovelace Day (ALD) is an international celebration day of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). It aims to increase the profile of women in STEM and, in doing so, create new role models who will encourage more girls into STEM careers and support women already working in STEM.

Founded in 2009 by Suw Charman-Anderson, it is now held every year on the second Tuesday of October. It features a flagship Ada Lovelace Day Live! ‘science cabaret’ event in London, UK, at which women in STEM give short talks about their work or about other women who have inspired them, or perform short comedy or musical interludes with a STEM focus. This year’s event will be held on Tuesday 10 October 2017 at the Ri in London.

The day also includes dozens of grassroots events around the world, organised entirely independently from the ALD Live! event. These events take many forms — from conferences to Wikipedia ‘edit-a-thons’ to pub quizzes — and appeal to all ages, from girls to university students to women with well-established careers. Every year, people in dozens of countries across six continents put on their own event to support women in their own communities. Anyone can hold an event, so why not get involved?

Organise your own ALD event

Every year, people around the world, people like you, organise their own events for Ada Lovelace Day. We’ve put together a handy organisers’ pack for inspiration, advice and resources to help people get involved by organising their own events. You can also chat to other organisers about what they are doing on our community forum!”