New Scientist Reports on the “Reinvented” U.S. Public Library (Maker Spaces, 3D Printers, Raspberry Pi)

New online today is an article from the always interesting New Scientist. The article written by Aviva Rutkin is titled, “Books out, 3D printers in for reinvented US libraries” and includes comments from a number of well-known librarians including:

• Sue Considine, Fayetteville Free Library (New York)
• Corinne Hill, Chattanooga Public Library
• Brian Bannon, Chicago Public Library
• Tod Delgrove, University of Nevada, Reno
• Barbara Stripling, Former President, ALA

From the Article:

In 2011, Fayetteville became the first public library in the US to set up a maker lab. Besides 3D printers, the space features a laser cutter, electronics kits, workshop tools, Raspberry Pi computers and an array of sewing machines. It functions somewhere between a classroom and a start-up incubator – a place where people from all over the region can get involved with state-of-the-art technology.
“Since 2008, when the bubble burst and everything started to fall apart, we’ve never been busier,” says Sue Considine, director of the Fayetteville Free Library. “It has snowballed into this really exciting rebirth for public libraries in many ways, as places where entrepreneurship and invention and discovery can happen.” To make room for labs, some libraries are clearing out their print inventory.
In Tennessee, nearly a third of the Chattanooga Public Library’s print collection – encyclopedias, reference articles, unpopular novels – was sold at a public auction to turn an entire floor into a maker lab. An academic library at the University of Nevada, Reno, put more than half of its inventory into storage, freeing up 1700 square metres for maker tools and working space.

Read the Complete Article

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Associations and Organizations, Libraries, News, Public Libraries, Reports