áMAKERSPACES TAKELIBRARIES BY STORMBy Tracey Wong

REINVENTING OURSELVESNaysayers will inform you that libraries areantiquated and unnecessary. They will tellyou the web is the information highway,people are using e-readers, and the youthno longer turns to print books or librariesfor information. But now more than ever,libraries are an integral part of our culture,our learning, and our future. Libraries arereinventing the way society views them, theway patrons frequent them, and the waypeople learn. Engineers, educational gurus,scientists, and library media specialists arewriting, blogging, tweeting, and creatingonline posts about Maker Eaires, makerspaces,and making—a growing internationalphenomenon.

TINKERING WITH TECHNOLOGY IN MAKERSPACESAccording to Andrew Schrock, Ph.D. candidateat the Annenberg School for Communicationand Journalism at the University of SouthernCalifornia, makerspaces—also known ashackerspaces—are "place-based collectives

As makerspaces develop,makers are partakingin a participatorylearning culture wherecollaboration is thefoundation of thecommunity.

where individuals learn through socialization,tinker with technology, develop skills, andpool technical resources." Makerspacesprovide space and opportunity for theinquisitive to explore, learn, and furtherdevelop themselves creatively around projectsthat are self-generated. Making can be shapedby an individual's creative interests and goalsor guided by educational purposes.

Originally an offshoot of MIT researchers,making has early roots and a foundation in3D printing that was developed in the 1980s(Barnett). Gradually, 3D printing has begun torevolutionize everything from medical deviceswith less clunky artificial limbs to designsand manufacturing with more fluid, naturalcurves and lines.

Maker Faires are workshops and showcases,originally promoted by Maker magazineto celebrate innovation, creation, andparticipatory learning. Makerspaces arebecoming a natural extension of libraries;people frequent libraries in order to read ingreater detail or learn how to do something.

SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE LIBRARYLibraries have traditionally been a placefor social transformation. They provideopen access and equalize the playing field.Libraries are where the underprivileged, poor,or the uninformed can go to get informationon policies, procedures, governmentapplications, and access to computers ortechnology that you can't get anywhereelse. Libraries provide access to people ofdiverse dispositions, classes, and teaching.As a one stop location that can offer so

much to so many, a library is a natural placefor makerspace as it fosters connections,collaboration, and community (Reeder).

Google, being at the forefront of experimentalexploration and innovation, instituted anonline summer maker camp. Google MakerCamp provided parents with the motivationto nurture DYI (do it yourself) children wholearn to explore and let their imaginationtake command. Making can be done in anytraditional form, like electronic mechanismsor handicrafts. Making can also take shapethrough scientific, technological, or digitalprojects. The concept of the maker cultureis transitioning into independent pop-ups,classrooms, and libraries.

WHAT HAPPENS IN A MAKERSPACE?As a continuation of the Westport MakerFaire, the Westport Public Library hasrecently and permanently instituted amakerspace featuring resident maker JosephSchott, who is in the process of buildingairplanes in the library's makerspace. Librarypatrons are able to view or participate in themaking process. One patron actually usedthe 3D printer to create a tool that wouldspeed up the making of the airplanes. Asmakerspaces develop, makers are partakingin a participatory learning culture wherecollaboration is the foundation of thecommunity. Makers learn not only bydoing, generating, and creating, but also byinteracting and collaborating with others.

Similarly in upstate New York, Lauren BrittonSmedley, executive director of the FayettevilleFree Public Library, articulates the role of

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Makers learn not only by doing, generating, andcreating, but also by interacting and collaboratingwith others.

makerspaces in libraries. Their makerspace,known as the Fab Lab, has monthly openhouses where library patrons are introducedto the concepts of Maker Faire and DIY. Mobilecarts and furnishings allow 3D printers andother technology to reach large numbers ofparticipants. The open houses are presentedas an opportunity to play, innovate, andexperiment. In close proximity to SyracuseUniversity, the Fab Lab collaborates withthe university's staff and students from theinformation science and library departments.

In school libraries, makerspaces are alsotaking form. Buffy Hamilton, the UnquietLibrarian, has instituted a creative writingmakerspace in the high school setting. In LosAngeles, nonprofit organization GameDeskhas created a school within a school. Agroup of thirty-eight elementary studentswill be immersed in STEM learning as theyfollow personalized curricula. In addition,the MacArthur Foundation has established

Makerspaces helpcultivate creativeinterests, iniagination,and passion by allowingstudents to draw uponmultiple intelligences.

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YouMedia, a digital media learning initiativethat encourages "geeking out."

A COLLABORATIVE. PARTICIPATORY CULTURELibraries are the embodiment of learning ina collaborative community. School librariesfurther foster that love of learning in anacademic environment. In order to freesociety from the cycle of just consuming,creators are needed. Makerspaces providelibraries with the opportunities to create,experiment, and acquire or perfect newskills. In school libraries, the process ofmaking demonstrates desired outcomes for21st century learners and for learning as anoverall process. Makers are able to contribute,communicate, and collaborate as they connect,curate, and create. Makerspaces adapt witha constantly changing world and are at theforefront of a new culture of participatorylearning. Makers are utilizing analytical andcritical thinking abilities and dispositionsin line with Common Core State Standardsas they further develop skills necessary forsucceeding in the 21st century. All schoollibraries should consider having a makerspacewhere students can let projects take formfrom their interests and curiosity. Projects canbe as simple as creative writing workshops orinvolve being given the opportunity to tinkeror play with LEDs, electric switches, and otherSTEM-related devices.

In makerspaces, students develop variousdegrees of expertise as they confrontmulti-faceted challenges. Makerspaces help

cultivate creative interests, imagination, andpassion by allowing students to draw uponmultiple intelligences. They are an effectivemeans of applying knowledge, and they tapnew resources for learning. Makerspacesembrace tinkering, or playing, in variousforms of exploration, experimentation andengagement, and foster peer interactionsas well as the interests of a collective team.Students are able to learn more effectively byplaying, interacting, and innovating throughchallenges as they are complete projects.

Resources andWorks CitedBarnett, Gary. "The Effect of University MonopolyLicensing in 3D Printing." Research Enterprise. Print.December, 2011.

Britten, Lauren. "The Makings of Maker Space, Part 3:A Fabulous Home for Cocreation." Library Journal. Web.www.thedigifalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/fhe-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-B-a-fabulous-home-for-cocreafion.

FFL Fab Lab. www.fayeffevillefreelibrary.org/about-us/services/fablab.Hamilfon, Buffy. "Makerspaces, Parficipatory Learning,and Libraries "The Unquiet Librarian. Web. http://fheunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2O12/O6/28/makerspaces-participatory-learning-and-libraries.

Maker Faire, http://makertaire.com.Reeder, Jessica. "Are Maker Spaces the Future of PubiicLibraries?" Web. www.shareabie.nef/blog/the-future-of-pubiic-iibraries-maker-spaces.

Schrock, Andrew. "Whaf Keeps Hacker and Maker SpacesGoing?" Web. www.fransfabric.org/?p=75.Westport Public Library: Maker Space, www.westportlibra ry.org/services/maker-space.

Tracey Wong is a first year school library informafionfechnology specialisf at P.S. 54 in fhe Bronx. Prior tothat, she taught reading recovery and leveled liferacyintervention for several years at P.S. 63. She is agraduate of Mansfield Universify.

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