Culture, Humanity, Maker, Social Justice, Uncategorized

Back for the Future: Makerspaces that Matter

Resharing this post from Eureka Factory, for which I originally wrote it.


When we first embarked on the library makerspace journey a few years ago, the concept was still relatively new.  3-D printers were all the rage, Maker Faires were the new state fair,  and makerspaces in libraries were cutting edge.

Six years down the road,  3D printers are still cool, and prices have dropped. But beyond rapid prototyping and small business uses, hobby use hasn’t gotten much beyond key chains and the ubiquitous plastic octopus.  Attendance has waned at the name brand Maker Faires, although independent maker festivals like Gulf Coast Maker & Comic Con have sprung up worldwide.  And makerspaces in libraries – well, they’re pretty common these days but mileage has varied and they’ve proven a bit too cutting edge for some libraries, where they’ve been scaled back to arts and crafts programming, or high end computer labs.

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