Librarian plans innovative makerspace

Representative gives demonstration, exposes students to new technology

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Students in the lower level of the NC library on Sept. 16 crowded around a 3D printer that was slowly sculpting a miniature “tardis,” which is a time machine in the popular television show “Doctor Who.” While they watched, they asked a representative from the Brookfield Public Library questions about 3D printing.

Brookfield Public Library representative Kat Baydon gave a demonstration on 3D printing and how the machine operates. Three-dimensional printing is the process of creating a 3D object from an electronic model. For many students, it was the first time they had seen a 3D printer.

“Before [the library] was having an exhibit about this, I didn’t even know you could print in three dimensions,” David Bobinsky ’16 said.

The 3D printer demonstration is the first step in NC Librarian Cheri Gogo’s plan to modernize LT’s library.

“I know we have [3D printers] in some of our CAD classes, but only a small portion of our students take those classes, so I wanted to expose more kids to it, and have a broader audience.”

Instead of the shelves that now take up the northern side of the lower library, Gogo envisions a “makerspace.” A popular trend among libraries, a makerspace provides technology like 3D printers so that people can invent and create, Gogo said.

“Kids can start to come in when they have free time before or after school, or during study hall to invent things and have some free time to explore, tinker around with some of the new things that are out there, a form of inquiry learning,” she said.

Gogo has formulated the idea for the makerspace, but there are no definite plans in terms of funding the space or gaining approval. According to Gogo, there are many grants available to make the makerspace a reality.

In the meantime, the Brookfield Public Library offers a program for teens and adults where people learn to create objects using the 3D printer, and how to fix it in case it breaks, Baydon said.

“Libraries were one of the first places to get internet and computers and now its moving up to bigger and cooler things,” Baydon said.