Tag: makerspace

General information

The Lost Art of Creativity

| Lorelle Gianelli

The Lost Art series examines tech tools that encourage communication between libraries and its users.  The Lost Art of Conversation looked at ways that podcasts can connect with the community, as well as the technology required to create a professional podcast. This month is all about the 3-D printer, a tool that creates three dimensional objects based on a digital design.  A brief history of this technology: the first patent was issued in the 1980s and today these printers can create anything from a kidney to a car. A 2016 Pew Research Study found that 50% of those polled think 3-D printers are a good investment for libraries (up 5% from 2015) and this number goes up when people are broken out by race: “69% of blacks and 63% of Hispanics say libraries should definitely buy 3-D printers and other high-tech tools, compared with 44% of whites.” Some people might…

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2015

Build a Circuit & Learn to Program an Arduino in a Silicon Valley Hackerspace

| Chrishelle Thomas|2 Comments

Panel of Inventors & Librarians Working Together for a More Creative Tomorrow A LITA Preconference at 2015 ALA Annual Register online for the ALA Annual Conference and add a LITA Preconference Friday, June 26, 2015, 8:30am – 4:00pm Check out this welcoming Video from Mitch Altman, co-founder of the Noisebridge Hacker space. Computers have changed our lives, but what do we really know about them? Library/information centers can provide answers. Via this hackerspace hosted innovative and experiential session, attendees will learn practical skills such as soldering and learning the basics of Arduino programing and being able to create and adapt programs for their own needs. A panel of Silicon Valley insiders and librarians will share how their institutions programs on programming contribute to analytical thinking. This experiential session is for anyone, with or without experience, who is curious about the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) / Do-It-Together (DIT) movement, and how it can…

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Original Content

No Rules

| Leanne Mobley

Librarians are great at making rules. Maybe it’s in our blood or maybe it’s the nature of public service. Whatever it is, creating rules comes naturally to many of us. But don’t worry, this isn’t a post about how to make the rules, it’s about how to avoid them. We recently introduced a new digital media space at the Robert Morgade Library in Stuart, Florida. The idea lab includes tablets, laptops, and cameras that can be checked out; a flexible space that encourages collaboration; tech classes that go beyond our traditional computer classes; as well as three iMac computers and a flight simulator. With all this technology, you would expect to find people lining up, but we’ve actually noticed that our patrons seem intimidated by these new tools. In 2012 the first idea lab opened at the Peter & Julie Cummings Library, but the idea of a digital media lab…

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