Editorial Board Thoughts: Libraries as Makerspace?

Recently there has been tremendous interest in "makerspace" and its potential in libraries: from middle school and public libraries to academic and special libraries, the topic seems very much top of mind. A number of libraries across the country have been actively expanding makerspace within the physical library and exploring its impact; as head of one such library, I can report that reactions to the associated changes have been quite polarized. Those from the supported membership of the library have been uniformly positive, with new and established users as well as principal donors immediately recognizing and embracing its potential to enhance learning and catalyze innovation; interestingly, the minority of individuals that recoil at the idea have been either long-term librarians or library staff members. I suspect the polarization may be more a function of confusion over what makerspace actually is. This piece offers a brief overview of the landscape of makerspace--a glimpse into how its practice can dramatically enhance traditional library offerings, revitalizing the library as a center of learning. Been Happening for Thousands of Years ... Dale Dougherty, founder of MAKE magazine and Maker Faire, at the "Maker Monday" event of the 2013 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting framed the question simply, "whether making belongs in libraries or whether libraries can contribute to making." More than one audience member may have been surprised when he continued, "It's already been happening for hundreds of years--maybe thousands." (1) The O'Reilly/DARPA Makerspace Playbook describes the overall goals and concept of makerspace (emphasis added): "By helping schools and communities everywhere establish Makerspaces, we expect to build your Makerspace users' literacy in design, science, technology, engineering, art, and math.... We see making as a gateway to deeper engagement in science and engineering but also art and design. Makerspaces share some aspects of the shop class, home economics class, the art studio and science lab. In effect, a Makerspace is a physical mashup of these different places that allows projects to integrate these different kinds of skills." (2) Building users' literacies across multiple domains and a gateway to deeper engagement? Surely these are core values of the library; one might even suspect that to some degree libraries have long been makerspace. A familiar example of maker activity in libraries might include digital media: still/video photography and audio mastering and remixing. YOUmedia network, funded by the Macarthur Institute through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is a recent example of such effort aimed at creating transformative spaces; engaged in exploring, expressing, and creating with digital media, youth are encouraged to "hang out, mess around, and geek out" A more pedestrian example is found in the support of users with first-time learning or refreshing of computer programming skills. As recently as the 1980s, the singular option the library had was to maintain a collection of print texts. Through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, that support improved dramatically as publishers distributed code examples and ancillary documents on accompanying CD or DVD media, saving the reader the effort of manually typing in code examples. The associated collections grew rapidly, even as the overhead associated with the maintenance and weeding of a collection that was more and more rapidly obsoleted grew more. Today, e-book versions combined with ready availability of computer workstations within the library, and the rapidly growing availability of web-based tutorials and support communities, render a potent combination that customers of the library can use to quickly acquire the ability to create or "make" custom applications. With the migration of the supporting print collections online, the library can contemplate further support in the physical spaces opened up. …