Three MakerspaceModels That WorkBy Travis GoodTools in a library makerspace range from electronics todigital media, 3D printing, and more. While the variety ofproducts and space configuration is vast, the approach toimplementation is not. Here are a few makerspace modelsthat work.

CollaborateJeff Krull, director of Allen County (Ind.) Public Lihrary(ACPL), identified partnerships as a key ingredient todeveloping a successful project. While he can't pin downthe exact day they joined forces, Krull and Greg Jacobs,president of TekVenture, met several years ago, and apartnership blossomed. .

"They [TekVen-ture] needed a practi-cal solution to theirspace issue, a physi-cal presence wherethe community couldvisit to learn ahoutthem," Krull said. "Ineeded a partner tohelp work throughideas, expose thelihrary to making, and potentially help me implement asolution. We could hoth henefit from working together."

Jacobs outfitted a 50-by-lO-foottrailer; wired it forphone,power, and internet; filled it with tools; and then parked it ina lot across the street from the lihrary. ACPL's costs are lessthan $200 a month for utilities and other services.

CORY DOCTOROW ON MAKINGProlific author Cory Doctorow en-

visioned a makerspace revolutionin his 2009 novel, Makers. AmericanLibraries caught up with him during hiscross-country tour to promote his newbook, Pirate Cinema.

American Libraries: In Makers, one ofyour characters says, "Every industrythat required a factory yesterdayoniy needs a garage today, it's a realreturn to fundamentáis." Do youthini< this is what iibrary mai<erspacesare—a return to fundamentals?DOCTOROW: One of the things that Ihope makerspaces can do in libraries isshow people how the information worksat the bare metal and to understand whatis going on underneath all those abstrac-tion layers with the technology that theyuse, and to take ownership of the devicesand technology around them.

One of your characters says maitersare iii<e 5-year-oid icids. is that theway libraries shouid encourage mai<-ing—unieashing the 5-year-old in you?Absolutely. That's the gateway drug to

it. Being able to go in and take a tooland make it suited to your own hand isa thing that we've been doing since westarted creating axes.

How do you want to influence thedeveiopment of maicerspaces? Mak-erspaces do a very good job of beingwelcoming to people who are of a tech-nical bent. But they have yet to figureout a way of sorting out how to appealto nontraditional audiences. I think that[librarians should be] actively pursu-ing ways to help people who are fromnontraditional audiences in your hacker-spaces, find the thing that they need todo and show them how to do it.

What would you say are essentialelements of a iibrary makerspace?Throwing smart, enthusiastic kids—whohave received a little bit of mentor-ship—at a mountain of e-waste is thebest way to get going, I think. Particu-larly if you can partner up with placesthat need computers. If you can getstarted turning e-waste into functionalcomputers, your problem isn't going to

be making computers run; it is going tobe getting rid of them fast enough.

What are some likely businessesor organizations that could serveas fruitful partners in a librarymakerspace endeavor? Apart fromthe obvious, open-source hardwaremanufacturers would be one. Anothergood source would be whoever is incharge of your local e-waste recycling.MAKE magazine, of course, is another.Local vocational programs, lo-cal shops, and local unions,particularly trade unions.Also, parents who arefreaked out that theirkids go to schoolswhere the chemistry[class] just allows them tomake crystals from super-saturated solutions andactually want them tobe curious about theworld—they wouldmake natural volun-teers.—Laurie D.Borman

Above: The TekVenture spaceat Allen County (Ind.) PublicLibrary.

Below: Projects at ClevelandPublic Library.

Opposite page, top and bottom:Makerspace at DeLaMareLibrary at the University ofNevada, Reno.

Together, TekVenture andACPL developed a summerprogram schedule.

The library promotes theTekVenture Maker Station whileTekVenture delivers the maker-space programs. Topics run thegamut from basic robot assem-bly and circuit bending to ho-lography and welding, totaling

more than 50 classes. In addition.Maker Station is home to weeklymaker meetups and the placewhere library staff receive hands -on exposure to making.

What's next for ACPL? " I 've cometo the conclusion that if we're re-ally going to have a library maker-

space, then we need to get past the Maker Station veryquickly. It's too unavailable across the street and its openhours are too limited. We need to do something inside thelibraiy building itself," KruU said.

Centralize,develop, deployCleveland Public Library ExecutiveDirector and CEO Felton Thomas Jr. isleading the charge to "make libraries thecenter of learning, where technology isprovided that levels the playing field forthe disadvantaged."

Cleveland Public Library's approachcenters on its Main Branch, where ideasare developed and tested and then rolled out as appropri-ate. The library system launched TechCentral on June 14.

"We want to ignite that spark inpatrons' minds to see where it takes them."

2012, building out 7.000 square feet and consolidatingtechnology frora two buildings.

TechCentral features a computer lab with 90 work-stations (there are 120 HP Thin Clients throughout thelibrary) ; circulartables to encourage meeting, interaction,and collaboration; anda'TechToyBox" withiPads, Kindles,and other technology. There's even a 3D printer. Workingwith HP and Citrix, Cleveland Public Library built aMyCloud service that includes Microsoft Office. MyCloudprovides a personal desktop persistent across sessionsand available to each library card holder older than 17.

The 14-member TechCentral team "are all trained libraryassistants but filtered fortechnology prowess," C.J.Lynce,TechCentral's manager, said. Team members offer freecomputer and tech topic classes and one - on-one trainingsessions.

TechCentral's $1 million launch was funded primarilythrough existing budgets: The librarycentralized computers and added a fewnew ones, and redeployed library employ-ees. It also partially funded the MyCloudand Tech ToyBox through corporate part-ners. The facility itself was formerlyhoused in the AV department.

What's next? "We want to introduce thewhole maker idea at a basic level. We'vepurchased K'NEX Kits, littleBits, CrawlingMicrobug robots, soldering irons, andvarious hand tools. We're doing this because

we want to ignite that spark in patrons' minds to see whereit takes them," Lynce said.

A HISTORY OF MAKING1873Gowanda, New YorkThe Gowanda Ladies Social Societyformed to quiit, knit, sew, socialize,and talk about books, in 1877, itbecame the Ladies Library Asso-ciation, receiving a state librarycharter in 1900 as the GowandaFree Library.

1905CarnegieLibrary ofPittsburghFrances Jen-kins Olcott,children'sdepartmenthead, helped to establish homelibraries in working-class houses,where she organized crafts such assewing or basketry for local kids.

M A N I T O B A

CRAFTSMUSEUM& LIBRARY

1933Manitoba(Canada)CraftsMuseum andLibraryCreated as a

meeting place and resource connect-ing people to crafts, the ManitobaCrafts Museum and Library in Win-nipeg is dedicated to preservingthe province's cultural heritage andteaching students how to craft.

Opportunistic/entrepreneurialTod Colegrove, director of the DeLaMareScience and Engineering Library at theUniversity of Nevada in Reno, used astrategy of deliberate opportunism to cre-ate his library's makerspace,

"It was the only way we could bring aboutany change. There was no funding. Thestate of Nevada was in the midst of dra-matic budget cuts so we didn't have the luxuiy of beingsidetracked by a master plan," he said,

Colegrove first assessed what space was used and whatwasn't. With 22,500 square feet, the library had only2,000—3,000 square feet open for collaboration, "Therewas way too much stuff in a fairly small space and cer-tainly not enough room for the users," he said,

A patron usage study revealed that students and fac-ulty mostly accessed electronic versions of journals, butprint journals took up more than half the library shelfspace, Officials decided to warehouse low-use items in anautomated storage and retrieval system, openingup 18,000square feet. To furnish the space, the library team pickedup surplus UNR furniture, inventory from the closedGetchell library next door, and surplus from the countyschool district.

Students liked whiteboards, but each 6-by-4-footboard cost $500, The solution was to cover walls with "IdeaPaint," whiteboard paint that cost $500 per 100 squarefeet, "There's something just plain fun about an entirewall you can write on," Colegrove said,

SparkFun's Toolkit ($60) and Inventors' Kit for Ardu-ino ($100) were purchased for electronics prototyping.Since the average science and engineering book costs$300, with overhead costs for handling and maintaining

it, a lifetime cost of $500 ofthat averagebook made the expense of purchasing threekits seem reasonable.

To justify purchasing two professional3D printers (one color for $20,000 andone monochrome for $4,500), Colegrovenoted some individual journal suhscrip-tions can cost more than $3,000 per year,with at least one engineering journal run-ning more than $100,000 per year,

"We put the printers and scanner in the entry lobby forall to see, to use, to talk about, to think about; it's aboutmarketing," said Colegrove, They hit their lifetime cost/use target of more than 1,000 uses after four months.Prior to the change, hourly head counts in the library peakedat 24, Now they average more than 200 and are expected toreach the rated capacity of 400 by spring finals week.

The university community collaborated to make themakerspace happen. Dean ofUniversity Libraries Kathlin Raywas very supportive, and an as-sistant dean secured an internalgrant to fund the 3D printers. TheKnowledge Center managed theintake of thousands of linear feetof material from the Science andEngineering Library,

"I see students and facultyactively engaged in the library,I'm just thrilled that it's happening in DeLaMare Library,"said Colegrove,

Each of these approaches started with ambition.Whether it was through creative partnering, inventivecentral planning, or scrappy entrepreneurialism, theselibrarians found their way.

1960Nebraska LibraryCommissionFunded forFY1960bytheLibrary ServicesActof 1956, theNebraska Library Commission(then known as the NebraskaPublic Library Commission) inLincoln hosted a variety of spe-cial activities, including creativearts, that were organized byarea groups.

jOf Rebuilding' M Together.

1976TheToolLibraryThe Re-building Together Central OhioTool Library was created byColumbus as the tool-lendinglibrary with a federal commu-nity development block grant.In March 2009, Rebuilding To-gether Central Ohio took overoperation of the library.

1979Merrimack (N.H.) m^m Merrímack» , ,, , ,, M ^ ^ ^ l l P U B L I C L I B R A R YPublic Library ^^^^The newly renovatedand expanded Merrimack Public Library openedwith a children's craft room.

FFL Ub2011Fayettev///e (N.Y.)Free Library MakerspaceThe first 21st-century makerspace opened inFayetteville Free Library, It was the first of itskind in a public library and includes a 3D printerthat works in a mobile capacity.

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