| What we've got: existing library, right on Hinton Way. |
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| What we want: proposed modern library, right off Palmetto Avenue. |
In step with a growing interest in the maker movement across the Peninsula, San Mateo County libraries have expanded their offerings to residents hoping to solve problems by doing. Wednesday’s meeting kicked off a systemwide effort to create a master plan for dedicated maker and digital media spaces throughout the 12 libraries in the San Mateo County system.
Exemplified by San Mateo’s annual Maker Faire, the maker culture
encourages learning through do-it-yourself projects often involving
engineering concepts and technical components, such as electronics or
robotics. Three-dimensional printers — available at every library — and
programs such as computer coding classes have allowed patrons to engage
in the building process driving their projects, which have ranged from
models of furniture to video production. And staff see a unique opportunity for the library to foster new learning opportunities, convening makers of all ages.“One thing libraries have always been about is learning,” said Anne-Marie Despain, director of library services. Read article.
Related, national vision. The Aspen Institute, "Dialogue on Public Libraries" (scroll down): The Report, pdf pages 80, "Rising to the challenge, re-envisioning public libraries", pdf page 5. "What people and communities need to flourish in the knowledge economy: Lifelong access; the capacity and disposition to learn in small; quick doses; the ability to use, understand and process information in many different forms; places to gather; access to conversations among creative people. People and communities need public libraries."
Posted by Kathy Meeh
San
Mateo County residents now have a chance to weigh in on the creative
spaces available to them at San Mateo County libraries.
At a community engagement workshop at the Belmont Library
Wednesday, Jan. 18, creators of all ages gathered to share enthusiasm
for projects they have been working on at their libraries and resources
they hope to see in the future.
Library staff are hopeful this meeting, combined with focus groups and online surveys, will help them reimagine their spaces in a time when a growing number of patrons are turning to their libraries for technical tools and resources to build creative projects.
- See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2017-01-24/making-space-for-makers-residents-reimagine-creative-spaces-in-county-libraries/1776425174757.html#sthash.fKBBgy9Q.dpuf
San
Mateo County residents now have a chance to weigh in on the creative
spaces available to them at San Mateo County libraries.
At a community engagement workshop at the Belmont Library
Wednesday, Jan. 18, creators of all ages gathered to share enthusiasm
for projects they have been working on at their libraries and resources
they hope to see in the future.
Library staff are hopeful this meeting, combined with focus groups and online surveys, will help them reimagine their spaces in a time when a growing number of patrons are turning to their libraries for technical tools and resources to build creative projects.
- See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2017-01-24/making-space-for-makers-residents-reimagine-creative-spaces-in-county-libraries/1776425174757.html#sthash.fKBBgy9Q.dpuf
San
Mateo County residents now have a chance to weigh in on the creative
spaces available to them at San Mateo County libraries.
At a community engagement workshop at the Belmont Library
Wednesday, Jan. 18, creators of all ages gathered to share enthusiasm
for projects they have been working on at their libraries and resources
they hope to see in the future.
Library staff are hopeful this meeting, combined with focus groups and online surveys, will help them reimagine their spaces in a time when a growing number of patrons are turning to their libraries for technical tools and resources to build creative projects.
“People are looking at libraries more and more as cultural institutions and community gathering points,” said Library Communications Manager Amanda Kim.
In step with a growing interest in the maker movement across the Peninsula, San Mateo County libraries have expanded their offerings to residents hoping to solve problems by doing. Wednesday’s meeting kicked off a systemwide effort to create a master plan for dedicated maker and digital media spaces throughout the 12 libraries in the San Mateo County system.
Exemplified by San Mateo’s annual Maker Faire, the maker culture encourages learning through do-it-yourself projects often involving engineering concepts and technical components, such as electronics or robotics. Three-dimensional printers — available at every library — and programs such as computer coding classes have allowed patrons to engage in the building process driving their projects, which have ranged from models of furniture to video production.
And staff see a unique opportunity for the library to foster new learning opportunities, convening makers of all ages.
“One thing libraries have always been about is learning,” said Anne-Marie Despain, director of library services.
Despain is excited to work with community members as co-creators in the process of imagining dedicated maker spaces across all 12 libraries she oversees. To brainstorm ideas from a group already teeming with creative ideas, she has enlisted the help of Gyroscope, Inc., a group with success in designing learning spaces for museums and other libraries.
Steve Tornallyay, Gyroscope’s director of creative growth strategies, led some 50 community members through Wednesday’s community engagement meeting. Tornallyay has worked on other co-creation projects such as the San Jose Public Library’s TeenHQ space, which was co-developed with teens looking for hands-on learning opportunities at their library. For Tornallyay, what excites him about co-designing maker spaces in San Mateo County libraries is the challenge of finding engaging solutions that will work across all 12 libraries.
“We’re trying to balance the countywide approach with keeping libraries unique to patrons,” he said.
The patrons attending Wednesday’s meeting demonstrated the challenge and opportunity that lies before Tornallyay and library staff, citing a wide variety of uses for maker resources currently offered at the libraries. A grandfather described creating a name plaque with his granddaughter using a 3-D printer at the library, allowing him to learn more about 3-D printers and his granddaughter to use a keyboard and mouse for the first time. Others described projects where they made simple instruments to teach younger students about physics, or created missing parts to machines with a 3-D printer.
For Kim, the variety of ideas makers bring to libraries, combined with the diversity in the size and structure of the libraries themselves, means they are not trying to develop defined physical maker spaces for each library, but rather overall strategies for making maker resources available to all patrons.
“We have communities of different sizes, and libraries of different sizes,” she said.
Kim said redesigning existing space and revamping current maker programing and resources are options that might fit existing libraries. Libraries currently under construction, such as the Half Moon Bay or Brisbane libraries, may include physical maker spaces in their construction plans. Kim said that a mobile maker space is an option that has been discussed to possibly serve locations limited in their ability to make changes to their physical spaces.
Library staff are hoping to gather input from the community in the coming months, and to develop a master plan for maker spaces by the end of May. For Kim, the opportunities to expand cross-sectional learning can’t come quickly enough for a county ready to co-create.
“We want to hear from people of all backgrounds, to get a better understanding of the digital divide,” she said. “How can maker spaces help people bridge that divide?”
- See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2017-01-24/making-space-for-makers-residents-reimagine-creative-spaces-in-county-libraries/1776425174757.html#sthash.fKBBgy9Q.dpuf
San
Mateo County residents now have a chance to weigh in on the creative
spaces available to them at San Mateo County libraries.
At a community engagement workshop at the Belmont Library
Wednesday, Jan. 18, creators of all ages gathered to share enthusiasm
for projects they have been working on at their libraries and resources
they hope to see in the future.
Library staff are hopeful this meeting, combined with focus groups and online surveys, will help them reimagine their spaces in a time when a growing number of patrons are turning to their libraries for technical tools and resources to build creative projects.
“People are looking at libraries more and more as cultural institutions and community gathering points,” said Library Communications Manager Amanda Kim.
In step with a growing interest in the maker movement across the Peninsula, San Mateo County libraries have expanded their offerings to residents hoping to solve problems by doing. Wednesday’s meeting kicked off a systemwide effort to create a master plan for dedicated maker and digital media spaces throughout the 12 libraries in the San Mateo County system.
Exemplified by San Mateo’s annual Maker Faire, the maker culture encourages learning through do-it-yourself projects often involving engineering concepts and technical components, such as electronics or robotics. Three-dimensional printers — available at every library — and programs such as computer coding classes have allowed patrons to engage in the building process driving their projects, which have ranged from models of furniture to video production.
And staff see a unique opportunity for the library to foster new learning opportunities, convening makers of all ages.
“One thing libraries have always been about is learning,” said Anne-Marie Despain, director of library services.
Despain is excited to work with community members as co-creators in the process of imagining dedicated maker spaces across all 12 libraries she oversees. To brainstorm ideas from a group already teeming with creative ideas, she has enlisted the help of Gyroscope, Inc., a group with success in designing learning spaces for museums and other libraries.
Steve Tornallyay, Gyroscope’s director of creative growth strategies, led some 50 community members through Wednesday’s community engagement meeting. Tornallyay has worked on other co-creation projects such as the San Jose Public Library’s TeenHQ space, which was co-developed with teens looking for hands-on learning opportunities at their library. For Tornallyay, what excites him about co-designing maker spaces in San Mateo County libraries is the challenge of finding engaging solutions that will work across all 12 libraries.
“We’re trying to balance the countywide approach with keeping libraries unique to patrons,” he said.
The patrons attending Wednesday’s meeting demonstrated the challenge and opportunity that lies before Tornallyay and library staff, citing a wide variety of uses for maker resources currently offered at the libraries. A grandfather described creating a name plaque with his granddaughter using a 3-D printer at the library, allowing him to learn more about 3-D printers and his granddaughter to use a keyboard and mouse for the first time. Others described projects where they made simple instruments to teach younger students about physics, or created missing parts to machines with a 3-D printer.
For Kim, the variety of ideas makers bring to libraries, combined with the diversity in the size and structure of the libraries themselves, means they are not trying to develop defined physical maker spaces for each library, but rather overall strategies for making maker resources available to all patrons.
“We have communities of different sizes, and libraries of different sizes,” she said.
Kim said redesigning existing space and revamping current maker programing and resources are options that might fit existing libraries. Libraries currently under construction, such as the Half Moon Bay or Brisbane libraries, may include physical maker spaces in their construction plans. Kim said that a mobile maker space is an option that has been discussed to possibly serve locations limited in their ability to make changes to their physical spaces.
Library staff are hoping to gather input from the community in the coming months, and to develop a master plan for maker spaces by the end of May. For Kim, the opportunities to expand cross-sectional learning can’t come quickly enough for a county ready to co-create.
“We want to hear from people of all backgrounds, to get a better understanding of the digital divide,” she said. “How can maker spaces help people bridge that divide?”
- See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2017-01-24/making-space-for-makers-residents-reimagine-creative-spaces-in-county-libraries/1776425174757.html#sthash.fKBBgy9Q.dpuf
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