A beginner coding workshop at the Cambridge Public Library has reached capacity ahead of its launch, with 39 people already on the waitlist for just 20 seats.

The eight-week “Coding and Web Development 101” workshop series, starting April 8, will introduce participants to programming fundamentals, including HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

The rapid fill-up comes as interest in learning technical skills continues to grow, even though recent technologies promise to automate the process. The demand reflects more than curiosity, pointing to a desire to understand how digital tools actually work.

“I think this one speaks to the fact that people are still looking for this information, even though we see so many ads now that suggest AI can do coding,” said Zachary Bond, the library’s program and events coordinator. “There’s really a human need for this information that is something other than that.”

It also shows what library staff describe as a growing gap in digital skills. The library’s digital equity manager, Gina Josette Rivera, said many residents are looking for ways to move beyond basic foundations into more practical, applied skills.

“One of the things that we’ve learned is that there is this big skill gap,” she said. “From the basic foundational tech that we have been offering at the library for years [to] the sort of next step, there’s a bit of a gap there.”

During sessions, participants will work through exercises and build simple web components, testing code and seeing results in real time. The format will allow individuals to move at their own pace, whether they are new to programming or building on existing skills.

“[Participants] can plug things into a JavaScript server and actually see the results live,” Bond said. “That will be a moment for a lot of people when they’re actually making their first codes that are running successfully or unsuccessfully.”

The workshop is structured differently from traditional multi-week courses. Instead of holding a fixed group, the library designed the series as a drop-in program, with registration opening each Wednesday so new participants can join as space becomes available.

“We didn’t want it to be such that there were only 20 seats total across all the weeks,” Bond said. “Maybe someone can’t make [a] week for session [and we didn’t want] to make that seat ineligible for someone else. So we really wanted to increase access.”

Josette Rivera said the coding workshop is not aimed at a single group. Instead, it’s aimed for a broad mix of residents, from younger participants exploring potential career paths to adults considering a transition.

“It’s really everybody right now [and] the library is about access, it’s about literacy,” she said. “It’s sort of the beautiful thing about the libraries that we serve everyone, so we do get everyone in these kind of classes.”

The workshop is offered as a pilot, and staff say they will evaluate its success based on participation and feedback. No decisions have yet been made about future sessions.

“We definitely recognize the vast interest, and it’s our duty to respond to community interest,” Bond said. “What’s essential about it is that it’s providing what can be very expensive skills, completely free and in a place that is accessible at the public library.”

For now, the full roster and growing waitlist proves great interest in learning how digital systems work, even in a city deeply tied to the tech industry.

“One of the things that I think are really important when we try to reach community is the sort of building that trust with people,” Josette Rivera said. “This is an everybody issue … and this is a human response to a tech problem.”

More information about the Cambridge Public Library’s Coding and Web Development workshop can be found here.

This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

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