Tag Archives: Google

Children's services, Programs, Tech

ALA, Google Seek Libraries to Apply for Coding Pilot this Summer

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(From School Library Journal)

“Is your library ready to code? The American Library Association (ALA) and Google want you. As part of Phase III of the Libraries Ready to Code initiative, ALA and Google are forming a cohort of 25-50 school and public libraries, which will receive resources and support to create youth coding programs to serve their communities. In turn, participating libraries will help inform the creation of a toolkit to be used to inform coding programs at libraries nationwide.

The $500,000 initiative—announced at Google Chicago June 22, during ALA’s annual conference—will involve a competitive application process set to open in mid-July and run until the end of August 2017. Both school and public libraries are encouraged to apply, according to Marijke Visser, associate director of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP).

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Programs, Resources

ALA, Google launch “Libraries Ready to Code”

The American Library Association (ALA) and Google, Inc. are launching the “Libraries Ready to Code” project to investigate the current nature of coding activities in public and school libraries for youth and broaden the reach and scope of this work.
“Libraries today are less about what we have on our shelves and more about what we do for and with people in our schools, campuses and communities,” said ALA President Sari Feldman. “Learning for children and youth today is more flexible, more self-directed, and with greater opportunities to not just use content, but to create and collaborate digitally. Library professionals are committed to facilitating both individual opportunity for all and advancing community progress. This new project with Google sits squarely in our modern public mission.”

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Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Nine mobile Google calendar tricks

sumall_calendar_email_campaignDo you live by your calendar? With birthday reminders, meetings, events, and the ability to always be accessible, the modern, mobile calendar is far different than the wall version of old. And to make your mobile calendar even more of an asset, PCWorld recently highlighted 9 ways to make the most of your Google calendar for android and iOS. The list is full of tips and tricks, but also details some of the lesser known features of the mobile version of Google calendar. Here’s the abbreviated list but make sure to check out all the details now!

  1. Let Calendar’s event editor fill in the blanks
  2. Set a default duration for your events
  3. Add automatic alarms for your events
  4. Set up repeating events
  5. Show more calendar events on the screen
  6. Pick new colors for your calendars and events
  7. Set aside some “me time”
  8. Start the week on a day other than Sunday
  9. Quickly delete an event or check off a to-do
Image from SumAll - Free Marketing Images
General, Public, School Media Specialist

ALA, Google launch “Libraries Ready to Code”

Backlit_keyboard“Ready to Code” will distill and share best practices—empowering more libraries to better prepare young people of all backgrounds with the computational thinking skills necessary for participation in the 21st century economy.”

Libraries have always been a place for community members to come together in pursuit of knowledge. Today, they are playing an increasingly important role in the development of young people’s computer skills.

The American Library Association (ALA) and Google, Inc. are coming together in an attempt to increase access to Computer Science (CS) learning for kids and young people. The project named “Libraries Ready to Code” pays attention to the opportunities offered at libraries for underrepresented groups of young people to expand their CS skills. They will monitor these opportunities through a mixture of interviews, focus groups, and site visits. They are hoping to find out just how much coding and computer learning takes place at libraries. That way they will be able to tailor their programs to be even more helpful to the kids, students, and young people who are in need of these increasingly relevant skills.

To learn more and read the press release, read here.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/zfs426q licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist

Google Cardboard: accessible Virtual Reality

Want to engage your patrons with Virtual Reality but can’t afford a $600 Oculus Rift? Enter Google Cardboard, an inexpensive way to give a Virtual Reality experience without the high cost. Simply put, Google Cardboard is a housing made of cardboard that turns your phone into a virtual reality (VR) viewer. With many selling for $15, Google Cardboard can be accessible for many libraries. But why limit yourself? Google Cardboard also offers blueprints so you can build your own! Why not hold a makerspace activity allowing students or patrons to build their own?

Need more ideas? Check out LITA’s article about five ways to start using Cardboard in your library or check out this video about how McDonald’s Sweden is launching a promotion that invites kids to turn Happy Meal boxes into Virtual Reality viewers: