Webinar: “Made in a Library” (OCLC/LJ)

Intro: Jason Griffey

What do we mean when we say:

• Fab
• Hack
• Make

Maker subculture is a contemporary subculture representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture. –Wikipedia

Includes engineering-oriented pursuits as well as traditional arts & crafts

Symposium Survey results:

~95% of the audience has never heard of the maker movement

75% don’t offer making programs or resources

Majority feels it is appropriate to have these resources in the library

Makerspace is an extension of the digital creation resources we already offer

 

History:

Seminal moment was creation of MAKE magazine (2005)

Spun off Maker Faire in 2006 – conventions across the country

Largest Maker Faire had more than 65K attendees

 

FabLab/Hackerspace/Makerspace

Contains tools and materials to build/make things, such as:

• 3D printer : ~$1K for a small printer
• Laser cutter
• Computer-controlled mill
• Arduinos
  • Lily Pad (wearable arduino board)
  • Raspberry Pi ($25 Linux computer)

Sites

• Adafruit
• Thingiverse
• MAKE
• 3DTin.com
• Sketchup.google.com
• FFLib.org/Fablab

 

Why do we care? Because our job as librarians is to get things that the community wants into their hands

Makerbot is reaching out to libraries – looking for catalogers to help them create cataloging standards for objects created with 3D printers

 

FFL Fab Lab

Sue Considine & Lauren Brtitton (@LMBritton) – Fayetteville Free Library, Syracuse NY

Culture of Innovation

• Identify & move through barriers
  • What do librarians do?
  • What are libraries for?
  • Challenge assumptions
  • Identify a common goal

Committed to providing access to experiences that can transform lives

Barriers to innovation

• Funding
  • Prepare by talking to community, find those who see value in creating access in community space & have them sell the idea to others
  • Look for partnerships within community
  • Decision makers
    • Admin doesn’t support the idea
    • Staff is overwhelmed & not open to new responsibilities – bring staff together & talk about fear about moving library into maker culture, place of makerspaces in libraries
    • Space
      • Much of technology is desktop, tabletop, mobile – can move around & out of library

 

 

Makerspaces

What are they? What do they do? – places where people come together to share resources & knowledge & stuff just like libraries

Give people the tools & know how they need to hack & recreate their world

FFL Fab Lab : The Technology

• Two MakerBot Thing-o-matic 3D printer – one assembled from scratch
• Preparing to purchase a MakerBot Replicator

More than a Makerbot

• Not just about technology
• Focus on giving patrons access to the tools they need to create
• Read/write culture, not read-only culture

Making is a type of literacy – emphasizes interpreting & producing, not just evaluating information

Projects:

1. make your own book projects (circulate creation in library)
2. Take Apart Thursday (figure out how tech works by taking it apart – BYOT bring your own tools),
3. Intro to Digital Fabrication, Intro to Digital Design (both taught by volunteers),
4. monthly open houses to show off products of the makerspace
5. History of gaming class/open house,
6. borrow-a-box (check out MakerBot & librarian to help you learn it for an hour)
7. Community Creation Lab (videos, photos, podcasting) – painted a wall with green screen paint
8. Bristle bots workshop

Use local experts to teach skills & classes

Q&A

1. Do you charge for consumables?
   1. Charge nominal rate for materials, but not for time/instruction
   2. Are considering a 3D Printer camp W/ nominal fee for materials
   3. Plastic for printer is ~$50 a roll, but have not used more than one roll of a color this year – is an additive artform, so there isn’t much waste
   4. How to train librarians – what skills do they need?
      1. Find one person who wants to learn the skills & get them to teach others
      2. Rest of staff doesn’t need a high-functioning level of how to use software, but having a team with the basic skills is helpful – need just enough info to help a patron log on & off, etc. because most people who will want to use it probably already know how
      3. What kind of ongoing costs do you anticipate? Why spend resources on this?
         1. Look at where resources can be reallocated more efficiently eg. If book budget isn’t being fully used, consider putting it to makerspace
         2. Technology isn’t cost-prohibitive
         3. Community support = more willingness to put resources to maintaining & upgrading equipment
         4. What’s the next thing you want to include?
            1. Laser cutter
            2. Mac Lab

 

 

Building the Future : terraforming a new ecosystem

Joseph Sanchez,  Instructional Design, Auraria Library

www.thebookmyfriend.com

Context:

• Early e-reader adoption
• All content migrating to digital format
• No “first sale” for digital content – all digital content is licensed, not purchased
• No more legacy collections (“…Harvard libraries can no longer harbor delusions of being a completely comprehensive collection…” Library Task Force report 2009 – $159 million annual operating expense) – we will not be able to financially sustain the current model of digital content acquisitions & maintenance (licensing = higher fees for less content)

No First Sale + $ = no library content!

Patrons expect the kind of content they see in Spotify, Amazon, Hulu, iTunes but the current library model cannot offer it

Why spend limited resources on this? Because we cannot compete with Apple, Spotify, Hulu, Amazon, etc. We need to look at ways to keep libraries relevant in the future & look at ways to become content creation spaces

Apple, Amazon, etc. do not care about library survival and are not there to helps us

We need to look beyond commercial content

Big Picture Thinking

• Indie content producers need distribution
• Local artists/producers need help/space/software
• Libraries need content
• Perfect partnership?
• Long-term goals
  • Save First Sale for libraries
  • Demonstrate security for commercial producers – working to regain ability to purchase content directly instead of going through middlemen like Overdrive to license content

Library production studio

1. Audio
2. Video
3. eBooks
4. digitization services
5. physibles – coined by Pirate Bay = digital objects than can become physical (eg. 3D printed objects)

-          patrons agree to “donate” production for public circulation/national library distribution

Logistics

1. Cost
   1. $10K-50K startup – over 5 years
   2. Get professional hardware/software
   3. Staffing
      1. Needs some professional staff with high-level tech skills
      2. Third/fourth year college students for daily work – they need hands-on experience
      3. Legal
         1. Copyright/ownership issues – 3D printing is threatening to blow up the copyright infrastructure – you need to have a disclaimer that the patron signs & accepts liability for product to protect the library from patent/copyright infringement suits & shutdowns (email Joseph for white paper re: copyright & 3D printing)
         2. Spatial
            1. Can be fairly small footprint – 800 sq ft

Q&A

1. How do you curate & provide access to the content your patrons produce?
   1. Can provide patron a form to fill out info about the product
   2. Don’t have to put up everything patrons put out
   3. How does staff get training, if professional tech is needed?
      1. Like FFL, staff doesn’t have to be proficient on everything
      2. Can find help online
      3. Most patrons who will want to use the software will know how to use it
      4. Is not feasible to have librarians do staff the lab – hire students who have learned the software & need professional experience – most doable if you have a local community college/junior college

 

Great Library Roadshow

Josh Hadro, Exec Editor Digital Products, Library Journal

Lisa Carlucci Thomas, Think Design Do founder & director

PC Sweeney, Branch Manager Palo Alto Public Library

 

PA, VA, DE, MD, NC – 7 libraries, 630 miles, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public to Philadelphia Free Public

Toured libraries, spent time with staff discussing innovative community services

Design & Creation Spaces In-House

• ImaginOn Studioi – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library
  • Staffed by high school students
  • Student Multimedia Design Center
  • • University of Delaware

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