Makerspace OR Hackerspace?

New IMac

In the eight years that I have been in the The Webb School Library, all of our computers have been PCs built by students under the tutelage of Mr. Pryor.  Recently we have had quite the need for a user-friendly video editing computer.  Today Mr. Pryor and a student installed the first Mac ever.  

This will be another way to support the Junior Class "Makers".

This week the Makers included:

Making Money [stock trading]

Making Music [learning a new instrument]

Making Chickens [Incubator]

Making Magic

Making Energy [Tesla Coil]

Making Flight [learning to be a pilot]

Making a Refrigerator

Making Video Games

The Makerspace trend has become popular among progressive librarians. A number of libraries have created spaces with everything from knitting to 3-D printers.  The goal is to become a place of creation, collaboration and communication.  I wholeheartedly believe in these concepts, however at Webb we have other areas on campus where some of these projects like 3D printing are a better fit such as our art and science labs.

I have really embraced a specific library related trend.  That trend is the learning and information commons idea.  I suppose the two trends are similar.  We also like the idea of a "Hackerspace".  The library is the home to coding, video production, and video editing.  Also, it is the home of several unusual clubs like Dungeons & Dragons and MineCraft.

Checkout this article from The School Library Journal
Makerspaces need not be one-size-fits-all kind of spaces


The Junior Project
The Junior class level was given the task of crafting a public performance which would allow students to express their individual creativity, to improve on skills they already knew or to learn a new creative endeavor and to share that creativity via a public presentation to include not only their creative project, but also to emphasize the public presentation of that project through effective public speaking.