Re-imagining a public library in the age of the maker and hacker, the Fayetteville Free Library (FFL) in New York State is the first public library to create a maker space in the United States.
Image Courtesy of Fayetteville Free Library
Lauren Smedley wrote a graduate school project paper/proposal for creating a maker space within a public library. FFL Executive Director Sue Considine liked it and hired Smedley to make it happen.
Ms. Smedley told me about a few of the visionaries who inspired her, so I spent some time reading those posts and listening to talks. “Killing Librarianship” is how Professor David Lankes (professor for New Librarianship at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies) titled a recent keynote using the street term “killing” meaning “think big, go for a homerun.”
There is a lot of potential around using public libraries in new ways. If you want to wrap your head around the potential, you will want to read one of my favorite writers in the maker space: Phillip Torrone at Make magazine. He did a post on turning libraries into maker spaces and gives plenty of statistics on libraries. (Links at end of post.)
FFL calls their new facility the “Fab Lab,” and it will feature a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer (Ms Smedley built it with a little help from colleagues) and future plans for unique programming courses, such as Intro to Digital Fabrication and Computer Programming. Ms. Smedley believes these courses will eventually play an active and important role in the FabLab and potentially in libraries around the country.
I first learned about 3D printing in a class called Innovation in Public Libraries at Syracuse University where I was working on my Masters in Library and Information Science. I wrote a proposal to build a Fab Lab or makerspace in a public library… Sue Considine liked the idea and hired me to execute the project at the FFL.
Public libraries exist to provide free and open access to information, technology and ideas. Building a makerspace (what we’re calling a Fabulous Laboratory) at the FFL will provide our community with the opportunity to have free access to this world-changing technology.
–Lauren Smedley, Transliteracy Development Directory at Fayetteville Free Library
Ms. Smedley reminded me that over the past fifty years how we process information has changed. New technological developments have changed the way we interact with information, allowing us to become “creators” rather than just “consumers.” I completely agree.
The thing that comes to mind from all this is the libraries won’t be able to manage it all on their own. I am a huge library fan, so I do not say that with negative intent. It is a fact. They will need help from the community of makers and inventors and DIYers, in a variety of ways from financial to technical. Volunteers provide a lot of assistance at some of the small public libraries. I can imagine that a few large public libraries or tech-savvy ones could make this work, with existing staff, but most won’t have the resources or ability to get additional funding which will also be needed. Again, Phillip Torrone’s piece provides some of the answers for this (can you tell I want you go visit it?). Some of the opportunities and challenges are on the FFL website:
There are a few places that currently provide community access to new, innovative creation technology like 3D printers. These spaces, known as Fabrication Labs (fab labs), Hackerspaces, and Tech Shops, share common goals: collaboration and making. They exist to give their specific communities the ability to make through sharing knowledge and skills. They provide the technology necessary to make almost anything.
However, these spaces often provide services to a specific or targeted group and are not easily accessible to everyone. Traditional Fab Labs are tied to MIT and are generally found in underserved communities. Many, if not most, of these hacker spaces and tech-shops have monthly membership fees. Plus, many of these semi-public labs can cost on average, around $1.5 million to start.
FFL and its Fab Lab is forging a new path within the maker movement — to get the community motivated to use its public spaces more energetically and to re-imagine based on today’s technology trends and potential. I believe we’re going to see many more open and free maker spaces leveraging community resources and libraries are the best ones I can think of. Share your ideas in the comments or by email.
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Since Ms. Smedley is also a professional librarian, I thought I should ask her for her top website resources for makers.“My go-to websites are Thingiverse & Makezine (Torrone’s post below is there). I was recently introduced to the Make To Learn Design Center – a lot of great information for working with students. And while this is not a maker website, it’s all about re-imagining public libraries: David Lankes (mentioned above).”