PORT TOWNSEND — Schools are remiss in training students for future job opportunities in computer science, a situation that will put those kids at a great disadvantage, according to a Monday presentation to the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.
“Computer science is a top-paying degree, and computer programming jobs are growing at a rate that is two times the national average,” said Kit Ward-Crixell, the Port Townsend Library’s director of children’s services.
“But there’s a big gap in the number of people who are being prepared for computer programming jobs. By the year 2020, there will be about a million more computer programming jobs than people who are qualified to fill them.”
About 20 people attended the event, which was the chamber’s last scheduled luncheon in 2014.
“We’re really doing a bad job in preparing our kids to go into these fields that are high paying,” she said.
“More high schools have these classes than middle schools or elementary schools, but learning computer programming is like learning any other language: If you wait until high school to learn it, you aren’t going to learn it nearly as well as you would if you started in first grade.”
Libraries, in the meantime, are stimulating kids to learn and explore available knowledge through a variety of information sources.
Ward-Crixell said the perception of libraries has changed since her youth, with the most important aspects at that time being centered on quiet and reading while the modern library has more of a collaborative community atmosphere.
Ward-Crixell, along with Port Townsend School District Librarian Ann Healy-Raymond, discussed the cooperative venture between the two public entities, creating a situation where materials aren’t duplicated and one card can access information from both places — although adults cannot visit school libraries to check out a book for security reasons.
“There are ways that we can come together and create a commonality on how we can deliver services,” Healy-Raymond said.
“By putting all of our educational needs together, it is stronger for everyone.”
Healy-Raymond said that the Lifelong Learning Center concept as practiced in Fort Worden State Park tears down the walls between institutions and increases learning transparency.
“What’s happening at Fort Worden creates a center of learning which reflects what is happening out in the community,” Healy-Raymond said.
“Libraries are a community’s living room; many people come to libraries as a center for being together with other learners, and I like the idea that libraries are doing that for our community.”
Healy-Raymond said the collaboration “has led to some pretty powerful changes” helped along by a $138,000 grant from the Paul Allen Foundation that subsidized equipment purchases for both institutions — iPads for the Carnegie Library and Internet-focused Chromebooks for use in the school library system.
Another side-effect of the collaboration is how the systems can complement rather than duplicate book purchases, she said.
One example is the development of a health collection “so everyone from students to senior citizens have access to a wealth of material concerning health care and wellness.”
Libraries aren’t just for books anymore, with the partnership exploring the concept of “maker spaces.”
“A library is not just a place where learning occurs. It also hosts innovation and creativity,” Healy-Raymond said.
“You can create things that have to do with what your are learning about while using the space in the library.”
“Libraries have always been places where people could go to get what they needed,” Ward-Crixell said.
“Now, the skills that people need have changed, but our mission hasn’t changed.
“We are here to help kids get the skills they need and spark their interest in something that is going to be really exciting and fun for them.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.