6. • Write a grant
• Play together nicely
• Collect data
• Tell stories
• See what’s next
7. Woodruff Librarian to be Southeast
Regional Consultant for CLiC
By Bette
Mcfarren
Librarian Sandy Messick, innovator of many new
programs at Woodruff Memorial Library, will be
leaving her position to join the Colorado Library
Consortium as its new southeast regional
consultant.
Source: www.lajuntatribunedemocrat.com
9. • Play together nicely
• Collect data
• Tell stories
• See what’s next
10.
11. Kit List:
Trying Tech
Bicycle Repair
Fabric Fun
Version Conversion
Geo-Cache Adventures
Button, Button
Beading Basics
It’s All Kids’ Play
12. 1. Host 2 or more programs for each kit
2. Administer a program evaluation and
submit data
3. Add one program idea to each kit
4. Complete inventory listing and note
replenishing or repair needs
5. Ship kits in a timely manner
6. Market the programs
7. Provide photos and related stories from
patrons and staff to CLiC
13. 1. Supply all items
2. Supply program ideas and instructions
3. Transport kits via courier
4. Collect and evaluate use data
5. Provide inventory lists, checklists for
shipping procedures and all management
information
6. Provide kits for use free of charge
7. Make marketing/advertising materials
available
8. Replace or repair damaged equipment
15. Selected Resources:
http://youngmakers.org/
YALSA’s Making in the Library Toolkit 2014
Makerspace Playbook @ spaces.makerspace.com
Maker Shed
Designing a School Makerspace @ Edutopia.org
www.users.miamioh.edu/burkejj/makerspaces.html
create@cvl-lists.org
makeitatyourlibrary.org
Editor's Notes
In 2013 I was the Library Director in a town of about 7,000. That is a BIG library for the area! We were often the first to adopt new things due to not only our culture, but because we had the best budget and the most staff.
I kept hearing about Makerspaces and knew I needed to find out more about them.
In order to give the idea a fair chance, I had to free up the mental capacity to take on a project that could change so much in the library. I had just finished a building project and we were all pretty low energy.
I began to research what making meant in the library world. After deciding the idea had merit, I needed to participate in some focused CE. I found a Colorado PLA sponsored workshop titled Make your Own Makerspace. I attended the day-long session and had a big realization!
I realized we had been doing maker activities for ever!!!!! We simply called them by the name of story time, PLAY (The acronym for our youth programming – Promoting Literacy and Arts to Youth) and teen lock in. I also learned that making isn’t only about 3-d printing and robotics.
These Ah Ha’s gave me a huge boost in confidence for our capacity to incorporate greater and more diverse maker programming.
Even with confidence to try something, I was a little overwhelmed with all of the challenges. *How do I pay for it and how do I justify the money spent? *Where does it go – meaning what has to go in the current library layout to free up the necessary space?
*What kind of space do we create and for whom? *Who will know how to “do” maker activities? Who has the time (and expertise) to run things?
*Who will, and how do, we figure all this out?
*And should we? Does this matter to the community in the end, or is it just another passing fad? Can we provide a making program that matters to our patrons?
I decided that identifying what type of makerspace we would create was really the key to figuring out the rest. I would need a way to test various ideas within my community, but didn’t have the funds to make it happen. So like a true librarian, I decided I would write a grant! The Colorado State Library makes funding available through competitive grants each year.
To increase chance of getting a grant and to assist area libraries, I would propose developing a variety of maker kits that would travel between libraries. We would all use all the kits during the grant period. Experience with a variety of maker type activities would help each of us determine what worked in our own community as well as with our staff and space.
With test data and stories in hand, each library could seek funding on their own for taking the service beyond the life of the grant period. We would all have a kit to keep or to continue to trade beyond the life of the grant. Take that, you challenges, I laugh in your face!
In my life, plans often don’t turn out as expected, and usually better! About the time I attended the CoPLA training, I applied for a new job. I was hired by the Colorado Library Consortium, know as CLiC, as a consultant for the region in which I live. Before actually leaving as lib. director, I mentioned my idea at an area librarians meeting. It was received with enthusiasm. I explained I didn’t think I could still do this in a different job and thought someone else might like to head up the project. Jim Duncan, Executive Director of CLiC, happened to be chairing the meeting. He saw the response and later suggested I continue to pursue the idea for my region with CLiC as the partner to provide the equipment. Yea, Jim! No grant writing needed!
I couldn’t any longer look at this as an experiment for my patrons. The challenges I would have had to face as a director were mostly around funding. With that in place, I now had to begin looking how to develop this as a formalized, replicable plan put in place for others instead.
Who – stable libraries with programs in place that had the capacity to take on something slightly different
What - I invited a group of area librarians to act as an advisory group (Mainly composed of those identified as the “who” libraries) to tell me to what their communities would respond
How – Buying, housing, re-stocking, safely transporting, program suggestions, evaluation,
When – Scheduling usage and rotation through the test sites
Why – True benefit vs. taking part in a fad
Saying: the more things change the more they stay the same.
The solutions to the new challenges are basically the same as to the old.
Libraries will still share the kits, collect data for themselves and CLiC, tell stories of patron and staff experiences, and use the data to see if there is a next step for the test sites and for CLiC.
Share Vision Identify participants
Solicit input from them
Design the kits
Administer the test
See what happens next
These are the kits the library advisory group wants to test with their communities. They are: (Discuss components and possible activities)
Trying Tech
Bicycle Repair
Fabric Fun
Version Conversion
Geo-Cache Adventures
Button, Button
Beading Basics
It’s All Kids’ Play
I wanted it to be ease to participate in this project so I designed it to put as little on the individual libraries as possible. If they just have to plug in the available materials, they will have time to line up seek the expertise they may lack with some of the content. I think to be successful, libraries will have to match local content experts with each kit. I believe the true power will be in the sharing of knowledge and passion around the content of the kits. I hope that some outcomes of participation will be increased volunteering and outreach to more diverse groups, stronger and more real partnerships, and frequent and deliberate programming for teens and adults.
For the test period, consumable items will be provided by CLiC so each kit will have to return to the office for restocking. CLiC manages Colorado’s courier for shipping ILL materials so shipping is not an issue. However, participating libraries will need to be on the courier system.
