Makerspaces: a great opportunity to enhance academic libraries

Stellenbosch University 14th Annual Library Symposium, Stellenbosch Institute for Advance Studies (STIAS), November 3, 2016 – November 4, 2016

Makerlab, Boise State University https://makerlab.boisestate.edu/

About me

www.debsf.nl www.fablab.nl www.frysklab.nl www.jeroendeboer.net

★ Project manager innovation Library Service Fryslân

★ Chairman FabLab Benelux Foundation

★ Cyclist and music lover

@jtdeboer

Book:

★ Theresa Willingham, Jeroen de Boer: Makerspaces in Libraries

“What Makers are doing is taking the DIY movement online– “making in public”—which introduces network effects on a massive scale.”

A cultural norm to share those designs and collaborate with others in online communities.

The use of common design file standards that allow anyone, if they desire, to send their designs to commercial manufacturing services to be produced in any number, just as easily as they can fabricate them on their desktop.

People using digital desktop tools to create designs for new products and prototype them (“digital DIY”)

Chris Anderson: Makers, The New Industrial Revolution, p. 21

Maker Movement

Makerspaces:Exist to bring individual makers into a space with shared resources;

Are spaces in which experienced makers can teach skills and guide the progress of newer makers;

Allow for the sharing ideas and designs not just within the makerspace, but outward to the larger world of makers;

Enable individuals to collaborate on projects and bring multiple perspectives and skill sets together;

Encourage individuals to experiment and discover through tinkering with technologies and products and to approach making with a spirit of play.

It starts with getting inspired

Lawrence Lessig

“The importance is that technique has been democratized. These tools of creativity have become tools of speech. It is a literacy for this generation. This is how our kids speak. It is how our kids think. It is what your kids are as they increasingly understand digital technologies and their relationship to themselves.”

https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity

Cory Doctorow

“Damn right libraries shouldn’t be book-lined Internet cafes. They should be book-lined, computer-filled information-dojos where communities come together to teach each other black-belt information literacy, where initiates work alongside noviates to show them how to master the tools of the networked age from the bare metal up.”

David Lankes

“The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities”

Doug Belshaw

“My belief is that the concept of 'remix' is at the heart of digital literacies.”

Doug Belshaw, The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies: http://dougbelshaw.com/ebooks/digilit/

Doug Belshaw, The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies, TEDxWarwick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yQPoTcZ78

Doug Belshaw, The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies, TEDxWarwick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yQPoTcZ78

FryskLab: Mobile Public Library FabLab

994 FabLabs worldwide

FABLAB COLLABORATION

▸ 900+ FabLabs worldwide http://fablabs.io

▸ FabLabs Amsterdam and Yogyakarta developed ‘Low Cost Prosthesis’: 3D printing combined with local resources (bamboo). $ 45,45 instead of $ 3.700,00 per prothesis http://waag.org/en/project/low-cost-prosthesis

NETWORK

FryskLab MakerTour2015

FryskLab MakerTour2015

Some of the new alliances

Personal storyDelft University Library

“It’s the oldest profession in the world, apart from the other one.”

Ellen Tise, about librarianship:

Public Library makerspace?

Makerspaces or FabLabs are creative, DIY spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. In libraries they often have 3D printers, software, electronics, craft and hardware supplies and tools, and more.

Interdisciplinairy learning

Invention Studio at Georgia Tech http://inventionstudio.gatech.edu/our-space/

Academic Library makerspace?

“By and large, these makerspaces are not associated with any one department. Indeed, that's the argument that many librarians are making about opening makerspaces with them. The library is already open to the entire campus community -- students and faculty of all disciplines.”

Audrey Watters: http://hackeducation.com/2013/02/06/the-case-for-a-campus-makerspace

“Libraries provide resources for not only consuming information, but also for generating new information and research, which is at the heart of any academic institution. Makerspaces and 3D printing provide the perfect opportunity for the generation of new knowledge.”

Pryor, S. (2014), “Implementing a 3D printing service in an academic library”, Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 51 No. 1, pp. 1-10.

Academic Library makerspace?

Library makerspace activities

John Burke: http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2015/Burke.pdf

Motivation to start an academic library makerspace

Supporting learning

Encouraging collaboration

Providing access

Expanding library services

Following the library’s mission

Providing opportunities for individual creation.

John Burke: http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2015/Burke.pdf

“The 3D printer is the new water cooler.”

Audrey Watters: http://hackeducation.com/2013/02/06/the-case-for-a-campus-makerspace

Some recommended reading:

★ John Burke: Makerspaces: A Practical Guide for Librarians

★ Chris Anderson: Makers ★ Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary

Stager: Invent to Learn ★ Cory Doctorow: Makers

Thank you

Jeroen de Boer Project manager Innovation @ Bibliotheekservice Fryslân Chairman @ FabLab Benelux Foundation http://www.twitter.com/jtdeboer

The library as maker and information space | Jeroen de Boer | TEDxFryslân https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prBATZD4oh4&t=903s