Yesterday we hosted our first of three webinars for our Design It * Make It *Share It* LSTA-funded grant with four Free Library staff members (Khaleef, Barbara, K-Fai, and BK), Molly Dickerson (Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Public Library) and Dara Schmidt (Anythink Libraries, Colorado). The conversation was fantastic. We focused on our experience planning and beginning a makerspace in the library; what we’ve learned, what we’ve done, what we wished we had known, and some resources and tips for libraries who are thinking about getting involved with maker programming. We covered the history of how our institutions got involved with the maker movement, staffing models (both traditional and nontraditional), managing staff and professional development, supplies, learning pathways, and challenges.

If you missed it, you can watch it on our Maker Jawn youtube page, or below

Some links/further reading from the conversation:
Carnegie Public Library Labs
Free Library of Philadelphia, Maker Jawn Initiative
Anythink Brighton
MAKEshop, Children’s Museum, Pittsburgh
Learning Labs Grant, IMLS/MacArthur

Hummingbird Robotics Kit
MaKey MaKey magnetic mazes
Maker Ed Initiative
Fuse Studio
RAFT (Resource Area for Teaching)