Makerspaces in Libraries

  

   The growing trend of makerspaces is a fundamental realignment of the means of creative production. The burgeoning do-it-yourself movement has benefitted from a host of technological advancements. Chief among those is direct access to expert knowledge in in almost every conceivable field through the democratizing power of the Internet. Likewise, consumer technology has been consistently raising the bar for production while lowering the cost of entry.

      It began with increasingly powerful photo-editing software, and has expanded into video and audio software. More recently, production has left the digital realm with the introduction of 3D printers, which allow 3-dimensional digital models to be physically constructed by a self-contained machine (Colegrove, 2013). Now it is possible to perform professional levels of creation with accessible and intuitive consumer-grade technology.

      A makerspace, or hackerspace, is simply a centralized location that combines as many production technologies as possible in order to provide a space where creation is the focus (Colegrove, 2013). They can be specialized to cater to one kind of production, like a digital printing area that contains photo-editing software, scanners, and large format printing machines. Or they can use different sets of equipment, and allow the user to determine which resource would best fits their intended result. The important part of a makerspace is that it encourages individuals to participate in the creation of new ideas, rather than just the consumption of mass-produced objects.

      Academic libraries first started creating “fabrication spaces” in 2001, with the first of its kind at MIT. Public libraries have only recently started offering similar services, with one of the first being the “FabLab” at the Fayetteville Free Library in New York State opening in 2012 (Slatter & Howard, 2013). According to Slatter and Howard (2013), the main positive response to these spaces has been increased community engagement. It also allowed patrons to be exposed to new kinds of technology outside of their traditional experiences. The downside is having to change the perception of what a library does, and how a makerspace fits into that model (Slatter & Howard, 2013).

      But is it such a radical idea that libraries are not simply for consuming information, but also creating it? While many focus on the library as a place to read, they forget the fact that it is just as often used as a place to write. Especially in academic libraries, where research material is used as a platform, writing and creating new ideas has always been an integral part to the library as a space. By using new technologies to expand the definition of what is creatable within an amateur environment, libraries can promote new kinds of avenues for the creative expression of their users.

References

Colegrove, T. (2013). Editorial Board Thoughts: Libraries as Makerspace?. Information Technology & Libraries, 32(1), 2-5.

Slatter, D., & Howard, Z. (2013). A place to make, hack, and learn: makerspaces in Australian public libraries. Australian Library Journal, 62(4), 272-284. doi:10.1080/00049670.2013.853335