Slides from the talk I gave at NYC Python on March 6, 2014 about using branch libraries throughout NYC to teach programming / digital literacy, and the importance of teaching languages, in terms of both equality of opportunity and job security.

1. Python, libraries, and literacy
"The Future of Python –
A Choose Your Own Adventure" Part II
(with thanks—and apologies—to Jessica McKellar)
NYC Python Meetup | 6 March 2014 | Pivotal Labs
Matthew Zadrozny | @MatthewZadrozny | www.zadrozny.co

2. WARNING
PRESENTATION FACTS
NYC / Libraries……………...……..70%
Monty……………….……………..….20%
Python……………….………………..10%
Minutes of lightning……………...5

3. The most important building in New York City

4. THE CENTRAL LIBRARY PLAN (CLP)
• Remove ("gut") the stacks of the 42nd St Library
• Replace them with a lending library
• Sell off the Mid-Manhattan Library and the
Science, Industry & Business Library
• Cost ~$350 million (or more), including $150
million in taxes

5. WHY THE CLP SUCKS
• Reduces public space.
• Dumbs down a world-class research institution.
• Misallocates funds / starves underfunded branch libraries.
• Misunderstands the value of libraries in the digital age: physical
browsing, unique form factors, anonymous reading, information not
on the internet, etc.
• Harms one of the wonders of the world: the 42nd Street Library.
• Could bankrupt or strain the NYPL system (a la Cooper Union).

7. THE ISSUE
Should this hugely important institution
• which is taxpayer-owned
• and primarily taxpayer-funded
• be directed
• in secret
• by a small board made up of the city’s elite,
• several of whom may have conflicts of interest
(real estate, etc)?
See: "Clueless at Corcoran"

8. THE OPPORTUNITY
A PEOPLE’S UNIVERSITY FOR THE DIGITAL AGE
– The library system (NYPL, BPL, and Queens) is
enormous, with 209 branches all over the city.
– Branch libraries already teach a natural language
(English).
– Shouldn't they also teach a programming language?
Shouldn’t they offer real digital literacy?

9. YOUR STAKE
• There are 150 of us in this room: nearly all above
or below a certain age, most of a certain sex…
• We have invested, what, over a million hours in a
language?
• Languages come and go...programmers get hired
and let go…

10. JESSICA MCKELLAR: “The Future of Python” *
• Popularity is ephemeral.
• Consider the next generation.
• To remain popular, remove obstacles to
acquisition and appeal to the young:
– Maintain IDLE
– Make Python better on Windows
– Improve gaming libraries
– Etc.

11. WHAT YOU CAN DO
• Debate:
– Paper vs digital
– Library funding
– The role of libraries in the digital world
– Literacy in the digital world
– Rise and fall of programming languages
• Protest:
– Email the mayor: savenypl.org/email-the-mayor
– Join the work-ins: meetup.com/saveNYPL
– Tweet about it: twitter.com/saveNYPL
• Volunteer:
– Redesign the website
– Build a back-end
– Etc.

12. EXHORTATION
Pythonistas!
You have eaten from the tree of knowledge.
Now go forth into the
and teach!

13. REFERENCES
• CSNYPL: The Truth About the Central Library Plan
• Eric Gibson. 2014-02-24. Clueless at the Corcoran: What the museum's latest bad
decision says about nonprofit governance. WSJ
• Michael J. Lewis. 2013-12. Philanthropic Tyrrany at the New York Public Library.
The New Criterion
• Jessica McKellar. 2013. The Future of Python. Kiwi PyCon
• Scott Sherman. 2013-08-28. The Hidden History of New York City’s Central Library
Plan. The Nation
• Matthew Zadrozny. 2014-01. Why you should do most of your reading on dead
trees & come to the defense of a 100-year-old information retrieval system
NYCPython Meetup

14. THANKS
• NYCPython.org for the forum
• Jessica McKellar for the slides, feedback, quote
• David Prager Branner for the feedback
• Michael D.D. White for the clippings

15. *ADDENDUM (Courtesy of J. McKellar)
The reality is that fewer than 1 in 10 students have access to computer science classes in high school*,
so the vast majority of students do not have an opportunity to learn to program before college. This is
unfortunate because programming is useful and fun, but it is also a problem because research shows
that if you don't have exposure to programming in high school, you are very unlikely to pursue
programming in college** (and this makes sense; why would you declare a major in something you've
never even tried?)
The formal education system is changing, but slowly, and programming language communities have a
big opportunity to bridge that access gap.
* http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=84,
http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/2013/Program-Summary-Report-2013.pdf
** https://computinged.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/correction-and-update-on-apcs-enrollment
In general, we want to be the language people choose to learn or the language people have to learn in
school, because if everyone is learning it, that's what the next generation will start their side projects
and companies in and what companies will hire for. Languages that don't have an audience die, so it's
important that we are proactive about staying relevant.