I gave this presentation last week at a webinar for the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council. There were a LOT of great questions afterwards. Lots of libraries are thinking about hackerspaces, makerspaces, etc … and trying to answer the “why” – as in why should we do this? What’s available? What are other libraries doing?
This presentation gave an overview of what’s happening, and also gave some tips on where to start.
Just posting something from fellow library geek Jason Griffey. Did you know he’s like the ONLY librarian who goes to CES (i.e., Consumer Electronics Show)? This show is apparently HUGE, and there’s a lot of innovation that gets announced there.
This year – actually, the last couple of years – Jason has attended CES, and reported on what he found. One thing he found was the Makerbot booth and Bre Pettis, one of Makerbot’s founders.
In this video, Jason interviews Bre about what’s new for Makerbot, and what it might mean for libraries. Jason also has an accompanying blog post talking about new stuff for Makerbot.
Bre also mentions two books we should read before starting a hackerspace:
Hacker Space Designs Patterns – a free, online resource that provides lots of different models, or “designs”, for creating hackerspaces.
I was able to hear Lauren Britton, Transliteracy Development Director at Fayetteville Free Library, talk about their library’s Fab Lab (sweet!). Here are my notes from her session:
Their FFL Fab Lab is the first permanent makerspace in a public library
A little bit on what a makerspace is… a place where people come together to create and collaborate, to share resources, knowledge, and stuff. They give people tools to create, to hack, to remake their world for the better.
FFL Fab Lab Story - started as a student proposal! She has turned that into her full-time job – hope she got an A on that!
Funding:
her first task as a new librarian!
she writes a lot of grants
received some donations – both Makerbots were donated
develop community partners for funding, to teach classes, etc
alternative methods – awards and crowd-sourcing. Indiegogo (sort of like Kickstarter) – they raised $5000 that way.
MakerBot – one of the coolest companies she has worked with. Their 3D printers are affordable – under $2000. The plastics needed are about $40-50 a roll, and last a long time.
Developing a pricing strategy for the plastic – they’re using a time strategy – first 10 minutes of printing is free, then 10-15 cents a minute after that.
More than a MakerBot
not just about technology
Focus is on giving patrons the tools they need to create
example – help kids make their first book
then circulate those creations!
D.I.Y.
community is full of experts – use them!
You DO NOT need to be a digital fabrication expert – ie., use thingaverse
you DO need to provide the access
Building a Makerspace
don’t need much – space, money, equipment
programming ideas: open houses, bristlebot workshop, make your own book, Take-Apart-Thursdays – community donated things the kids can take apart (like a toaster) to learn about them.
