CHICAGO — Attend a free one-hour webinar to discover what learning to teach coding is all about, and then register for and attend the full day LITA preconference at 2015 91´«Ã½ Annual in San Francisco.

Learn to Teach Coding and Mentor Technology Newbies – in Your Library or Anywhere! (LIT2)

Free introductory webinar

Tuesday May 26, 2015, 1 - 2 p.m. Central Time

The informational webinar is free, no registration required, and open to the first 100 log-ins at

Enter as a guest. The webinar will be recorded and the link to the recording will be posted to these same resource spaces.

LITA Preconference at 2015 91´«Ã½ Annual

Friday, June 26, 2015, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

The webinar and preconference are based on the acclaimed programs developed by Black Girls Code. We are fortunate to partner with BGC to deliver this great learning opportunity. Black Girls CODE (BGC) is devoted to showing the world that black girls can code and growing the number of women of color working in technology. LITA is devoted to putting on programs that promote, develop and aid in the implementation of library and information technology. Together, BCG and LITA offer this full day preconference workshop, designed to turn reasonably tech savvy librarians into master technology teachers. The workshop will help attendees develop effective lesson plans and design projects their students can complete successfully in their own coding workshops. The schedule will feature presentations in the morning followed by afternoon breakout workgroups, in which attendees can experiment with programming languages such as Scratch, Ruby on Rails and more.

Presenters will include: Kimberly Bryant, founder and executive director, Black Girls CODE; and Lake Raymond, program coordinator, Black Girls CODE.

The Black Girl Code Vision is to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.

Bryant said, “That, really, is the Black Girls Code mission: to introduce programming and technology to a new generation of coders, coders who will become builders of technological innovation and of their own futures. Imagine the impact that these curious, creative minds could have on the world with the guidance and encouragement others take for granted”.

The cost to attend Learn to Teach Coding is $235 for LITA members, $350 for 91´«Ã½ members, and $380 for nonmembers. Register through the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference website, Enter the code LITA2015 to get the LITA member rate.