What is a Makerspace?
It seems everywhere I go now, I hear this phrase. Magazines, books, librarians in our district, city, and state, community centers, universities are all interesting in creating a place for people to be together and think about how to solve problems.
Makerspaces are not the Learning Centers of the 1970s, although they started there. In the 70's, we had glue and construction paper and--if we were lucky--fat markers instead of Crayons. But that's a far cry from what we're talking about now. Now, we are talking about a space where students come to share their ideas and their knowledge with each other while creating real things--everything from models of bridges and buildings to robots to who knows what. Legos, batteries, welding stations...what you put in a makerspace is based on your resources and creativity. What does this mean for our libraries?
Makerspaces are not the Learning Centers of the 1970s, although they started there. In the 70's, we had glue and construction paper and--if we were lucky--fat markers instead of Crayons. But that's a far cry from what we're talking about now. Now, we are talking about a space where students come to share their ideas and their knowledge with each other while creating real things--everything from models of bridges and buildings to robots to who knows what. Legos, batteries, welding stations...what you put in a makerspace is based on your resources and creativity. What does this mean for our libraries?
Libraries are no longer simply a holding area for books, they are community hubs. People gather at the library to share ideas and enrich their lives. Computers and internet are now standard in libraries and are often in demand. Unemployed individuals can come to the library and apply for jobs. Kids can do their homework (or play games) at the library. But did you know that libraries are now becoming much more than books, computers and internet? Libraries are becoming creation spaces, often called maker spaces (or makerspaces).
William Gibson, a writer who I think predicts the future, describes in his new novel a makerspace where people come in to create items ranging from fashion accessories to electronic devices and then print them using a 3-D printer. I haven't finished it yet, so I don't know how it ends, but the idea of being able to think up something and then fabricate is no longer a future fantasy. Cory Doctorow wrote a fascinating blog about information, libraries, and makerspaces in which he said,
What's more, we're *drowning* in information... everyone can reach everything, all the time, and the job of experts is to collect and annotate that material, to help others navigate its worth and truthfulness.
What's more, we're *drowning* in information... everyone can reach everything, all the time, and the job of experts is to collect and annotate that material, to help others navigate its worth and truthfulness.
That is to say that society has never needed its librarians, and its libraries, more. The major life-skill of the information age is information literacy, and no one's better at that than librarians. It's what they train for. It's what they live for.
But there's another gang of information-literate people out there, a gang who are a natural ally of libraries and librarians: the maker movement. Clustered in co-operative workshops called "makerspaces" or "hack(er)spaces," makers build physical stuff. They make robots, flying drones, 3D printers (and 3D printed stuff), jewelry, tools, printing presses, clothes, medieval armor... Whatever takes their fancy. Making in the 21st century has moved out of the individual workshop and gone networked...
There are many resources and ideas out on the web for starting, creating, and funding Makerspaces. Information about creating a Makerspace. What have you already heard about them, tried, or seen? Is this a good idea for libraries? What would you put in a Makerspace?