Making on the Move: A Look at Mobile Makerspaces

Makerspaces in school libraries are moving into their third year in the United States. Multiple school libraries at all grade levels have started to include makerspaces or making activities in their curricula. Makerspaces are a place where students, patrons, or young people can find a place to explore their interests. In these locations they can use tools, either digital or physical, and develop projects (Fleming 2015). Makerspaces and the act of making give students a place as well as activities to collaborate, problem-solve, create, think, and explore. For libraries, these spaces demonstrate that the library is not just a place for knowledge consumption but also for information creation (Foote 2013).

Going Mobile

No two school library makerspaces are the same (Pisarski 2014). Some have a digital focus where the students are creating worlds in Minecraft for their literature class and recording music for social studies projects in sound studios. Some have a more hands-on or building focus where students create story characters out of cardboard and Makedos (https://mymakedo.com/) for language arts or build math applications on a 3D printer. Every library makerspace is different, because every library set up is varied, the needs of the patrons, faculty, and school community are diverse, and budgets are always going to be dissimilar as well.

Some librarians don’t have the space for a standalone makerspace. So they make the decision to go mobile. Some librarians have chosen to spread the makerspace wealth with other schools that do not currently have making as part of their curriculum. They too have elected to go mobile. What do I mean by going mobile? Going mobile simply means that these librarians have taken their makerspaces “on the road” or at least away from their designated space. It may be by cart, car, or bus but these librarians have made their makerspaces portable.

Click to Enlarge +Making on the Move: A Look at Mobile Makerspaces

Making on the Move

Cynthia Alaniz, also known as the Librarian in Cute Shoes (http://librarianincuteshoes.blogspot.com/), is an elementary school librarian at Cottonwood Creek Elementary in Coppell, TX. She realized that currently she didn’t have the allocated room for a full makerspace in her library. Cynthia also knew that she didn’t want to set up and take down making activities everyday along with the other events happening in her library. As with many librarians her space is used in a myriad of ways. Cynthia decided that a maker cart was the way to go. All of the making tools, materials, baskets, and more were loaded on a cart that could now be wheeled out anytime and anywhere. In true maker style a parent volunteer helped in repurposing a library cart to create a maker pushcart for Cynthia’s students, a great idea for making on the move.

The librarians at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia, including Ida Mae Craddock, are already well known for their school’s makerspace. They were one of the first public schools in the nation to have a fully implemented makerspace in their library. What started at Monticello has reached into the community, other schools want what they have but not every library can hold a makerspace in their library. These spaces don’t work for every school or for each library, which is why Mae and her students started reaching out and providing mobile maker services to local elementary and middle school students. Monticello’s mobile maker program is called “Makers on the Move” and once a week high school students pack up a 3D printer, 3D scanner, Arduinos, as well as supplies for arts-based projects to teach younger students how to make and create. The program has been so popular that keeping up with demand has become the major challenge.

Andy Plemmons at David C. Barrow Elementary School in Athens, Georgia, is another well-known librarian with bright ideas. Andy was one of the first elementary school librarians to have a 3D printer in his library from the Donors Choose and Makerbot grant. This year he has taken the maker activities in his library and has gone on the road, literally. In a partnership with the University of Georgia (UGA), Andy and his second to fifth grade students visited the UGA campus to create a pop-up makerspace. A pop-up makerspace or making activity is typically a short activity or set of activities built and broken down all in one day. Compare it to being a roadie for a rock band. Andy and his students set up making activities for UGA students to try on campus, in the moment. Andy’s school is only a mile away from UGA. The students were able to walk over, set up the event, interact with college students in maker activities, break everything down, and return to school, all in one day. This was a wonderful partnership that will assuredly open doors to future collaborative opportunities.

An Eye to the Future

Most school librarians are only starting to decide if a makerspace is right for them. It may or may not be. The answer to this always resides in the needs of the students, faculty, administration, and overall community. The idea of a mobile makerspace opens the door to unexplored opportunities. A mobile makerspace means that no one location in the library is designated to making, maker activities can occur anywhere. Sharing maker responsibilities between schools creates opportunities for collaboration. Partnering with public libraries or higher education creates an entirely new level of experiences as well, introducing students to new resources and experiences. Regardless of whether makerspaces are here to stay, they will make an impact on the services being delivered in libraries. Our goal as librarians has always been to meet the needs of our patrons but the mentality behind makerspaces introduces an entirely new level of service and engagement, as well as knowledge creation.