iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

To say it’s been an interesting school year so far would be an understatement.  This has definitely been the most challenging year of my career.  I consider myself lucky to be working at a school that has the resources and leadership to keep us safe.  I know that many, many schools have been left behind.  But even with that, this year has been exhausting.  I’ve had to almost completely rethink and reimagine how I run my library program.  This while also living with the constant low-grade anxiety of living in a global pandemic.

This is a multiple post series.  In this first part, I want to give you an overview of what my school has been doing during COVID and how my library’s physical space has adapted.  For the second post, I’ll talk about programs I’ve done to encourage reading, plus collaborations with teachers.  In the last post, I’ll share how we’ve adapted our makerspace activities to make them work in our current environmen

The Maker Movement continues to grow, and makerspaces have hit a point where they are clearly no longer just a passing fad. Academic universities are conducting research and gathering data on makerspaces’ impact on learning, and dozens of books have already been published. More and more makerspaces are being created in schools, some in separate labs and some in corners of classrooms. And some makerspaces, of course, are in the library.

In these last four years of speaking at conferences, chatting on Twitter and talking to colleagues, I’ve fielded a lot of questions from two camps.

One camp is made up of hesitant librarians. They’re not really sure that a makerspace belongs in the library. They’re afraid of it taking over their whole program and replacing the books. Their school already has a STEM lab, so why do they need a makerspace in their library too?

The other camp is made up of librarians who are ready and eager to start a makerspace, but who are meeting resistance from their administration. We already have an art studio; why do we need a makerspace in the library too? Aren’t those kids just playing and messing around with LEGO® bricks? Shouldn’t the library be a quiet, clean, studious environment? How would a space like this tie in with curriculum, improve test scores or create better experiences for our students?

This article looks to address some of these concerns and to explain why makerspaces do belong in libraries.

I love the power of social media in libraries. It’s an amazing way to share what you’re doing, promote your programs, and reach out to students and community members. Being a visual learner, Instagram is definitely one of my favorite platforms. It makes it easy to share striking visual images with as much or as little text as you prefer. This post isn’t here to convince you as to why you should have a library Instagram (check out Gwyneth’s awesome post if you are still on the fence). And it’s also not a post to share about best practices when posting to a school Instagram (although I think I now have my next post idea).

In recent years, libraries have broadened their scope of offerings to the local community to involve more making activities like 3-D printing and sewing. Some libraries even have a facilitator for maker projects.

At Millvale Community Library in Pennsylvania, maker program coordinator Nora Peters saw an opportunity to better connect the activities of the maker space with the library's mission to promote literacy. So, she set out to build a bridge between making and reading by creating maker activities for children's books.

When you think about the most valuable cards in your wallet, you probably envision your credit and ATM cards. Here’s another one that should come to mind: your library card. These days, the nation’s 9,057 library systems let you check out a lot more than books.

Need a power tool, kayak, 3-D printer or Ninja Turtle-shaped cake pan? Your library might have one you can borrow. What about crafting or studio space? It might have you covered there, too. Some libraries provide access to courses on computers or graphic design. Many will let you borrow passes to local attractions such as zoos and museums. Others provide seeds and cuttings to check out; you can grow your own, then return seeds or cuttings to share with others.

Welcome to our Libraries Ready to Code Collection Beta Release! Everything on this site is a test run and we want your feedback. That way, when we launch the full site (in fall 2018) it will meet the needs of library staff working for and with youth and families.