Library Robotics

Book excerpt: A dive-right-in, quick-start guide for busy library professionals who want to build literacy, STEAM, and other 21st-century skills using simple robots in a fun, collaborative environment. Robotics in the library? Absolutely. Robotics can add a new dimension to library programming—one that can help America's youth build the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) and 21st-century learning skills they will need to be successful in an international, technology-infused workforce. This book provides a complete guide for launching a robotics program in the library and demonstrates the links between robotics programming and learning. It also includes complete instructions for various program models that employ robotics. Robotics programs are an ideal way for public and school libraries to demonstrate their vital roles as the hubs of community learning, and the subject is universally popular with students as well as parents and industrial funders. The book's clearly and succinctly written chapters begin by providing the information that librarians will need for stakeholders and to select equipment, then move logically into addressing guided activities and expansion ideas. Children's librarians, teen librarians, school media specialists (particularly those focused on middle school students), and adult and technology librarians looking to connect with "new adults" will find this book useful and appealing.