Mar 31, 2016 Makerspaces

Hello all and welcome to Spring!

TJ here from Creativity & Innovation Services’ Creative Spaces (what a mouthful!). Let me begin the post with an intro to the Marriott Library’s Friday makerspace, held in the Knowledge Commons on level 2. Starting at 10:00AM and going until 2:00pm every Friday during the semester, we set up at the tables just outside the Fine Arts & Architecture Library. Maybe you caught the recent “Jordan Here” video about the Library makerspace . The makerspace started as a casual outreach event just over a year ago, and it goes something like this: staff, faculty, and students gather to catch up, make introductions, talk about ideas, rough out a design, try out a new skill, catch up on the week’s events, or talk about a new technology. We also use the time to encourage passersby to stop and explore some of the services available to them in the Marriott Library.

There’s a lot of equipment that might go into a makerspace, and as ours is not a permanent space, we often face a dilemma: what resources should we explore on a given day? There’s so much to choose from: exploring robotics with Makeblock kits and Arduinos, making 3D scans and prints of friends and colleagues, trying out the latest Raspberry Pi, troubleshooting ambitious 3D prints, trying out the latest Leap Motion apps, teaching the basics of electronics with electronic Snap Circuits – The list goes on and on. One question arose over and over during these initial phases: How can I learn more?

There is no one class that covers the material and equipment we provide access to. Sure, this stuff is used in classes and labs all over campus – let’s face it: The University of Utah is the Creative Space; the Library is just in the middle of it all. This question, however, was the origin of the Creative Spaces workshop series. At first, we attempted to answer the most basic of questions: how can I learn to use the Library’s 3D printers? As our equipment list, connections to other departments, and skillsets grow, we find increased interest in crash courses on technology and general “making stuff”. This is why we now offer weekly workshops on a variety of topics: 3D Printing, of course, but also advanced topics in 3D printing, 3D scanning, modeling, Arduino & Raspberry Pi – the list keeps growing!

As we’re now past the midpoint of the semester, there are still a few workshops remaining that I invite you to check out. You can view them on the Library’s class and event schedule: https://eventregistration.tools.lib.utah.edu/

I look forward to seeing you there!

T.J. Ferrill
Creativity & Innovation Services

View the original article on the Creativity and Innovation Services Blog