Digital Climbers

Challenging Youth

Muncie Public Library’s award-winning Digital Climbers program got its start in the summer of 2015 when Drew Shermeta, Rebecca Parker – both former managers of Connection Corner, – Stuart Cotton, and Dan Allen wanted to provide challenging activities for children after school that would give them “choice, power, and independence” (Scardilli, p. 26). Using incentives to encourage a willingness to explore, participants picked from a binder full of a wide range of activities to earn points, rewards, and public recognition for “climbing” the mountain of digital success. All of the activities were STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) based, giving students the ability to explore these topics while building skills, cultivating creativity, and becoming more knowledgeable about various digital technologies. Muncie Public Library officially launched the Digital Climbers program in January 2016 at Connection Corner. It expanded to Maring-Hunt’s Maker Loft (the area later known as Idea Studio) in February of that year.

An elementary aged child works on building a tower on a table.

An elementary aged child works on a digital climbers project while another child plays with an ipad at the table.

Children explore the different challenges offered by the Digital Climbers program (MPL Archives, 2015-2018)

An Award-Winning Program

Julie Todaro, Akilah Nosakhere, Rebecca Park, Stuart Cotton, Dan Allen, and Brandi Scardilli smile and pose for the camera. Julie Todaro and Akilah Nosakhere are holding an award while Brandi Scardilli has her arms spread wide.

Muncie Public Library receives the Library of the Future award at the ALA conference in Chicago in 2017. From left to right are Julie Todaro (Former President of the ALA, 2016-1017), Akilah Nosakhere (former MPL Director), Rebecca Parker (former Branch Manager of Connection Corner and Technology Coordinator), Stuart Cotton (Digital Mentor), Dan Allen (former Digital Mentor), and Brandi Scardilli (editor of Information Today). (MPL Archives)

Digital Climbers was such an innovative and original concept that in 2017, the American Library Association in partnership with Information Today awarded Muncie Public Library with the Library of the Future award. This award “is presented to an individual library, consortium, group or support organization that plans, develops, and applies a patron-training program that explores IT in a library setting” (Scardilli, p. 26). At the time of the award, 185 kids were signed up at Connection Corner (renamed Centennial Library in 2025) while Maring-Hunt Library had 250. Furthermore, Carmel-Clay Public Library had reached out to MPL asking for help setting up their own version of Digital Climbers at their library and had stated that school age kids, a difficult audience for them, really engaged with the program thanks to the independence that it gave them to explore. Kokomo-Howard and Pendleton Public Libraries since then have also instituted a Digital Climbers program within their communities.

Digital Climbers Today

Digital Climbers is still offered at Muncie Public Library today at Centennial Library to children over 8 years of age. It continues to be a very popular program.

Two young children work on a Digital Climbers project in the Kennedy Library children's area program room.

Digital Climbers at Kennedy Library (MPL Archives, 01-17-2023)

Digital Mentor Stuart Cotton helps a group of elementary-aged children with their digital project. A person sits at the computer in the background.

Digital Mentor Stuart Cotton helps one of the Digital Climbers participants in one of the activities at Connection Corner (MPL Archives, 02-12-2019).

Sources

Fisher, Susan. “ALA/ITI Library of the Future Award Winner: Climbing the Digital Mountain at Muncie Public Library.” Computers in Libraries 38, no. 1 (January/February 2018): 33-36.

“Friends and Neighbors.” (05-20-2017). Star Press. Carnegie Library. Muncie Public Library.

MPL Archives. Carnegie Library. Muncie Public Library.

Scardilli, Brandi. “Climbing Into the Future at Muncie Public Library.” Information Today 34, no. 7 (September 2017): 1, 26.

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