Maker Outreach: Maker Faire

Outreach: Portland Mini Maker Faire
Location: OMSI
Dates: Saturday/Sunday, 9/15-9/16, 2018
Maker Project: low-cost screen printing
Completed projects: 500 (estimated)
Participation: ~1,000
Staff: 11 staff members, 4 branches, program services, all awesome

We had a difficult time counting attendees as it was all-hands-on-deck for most of the day Saturday and Sunday. OMSI gave us a great location right next to the entrance, so there were few people who didn’t see our booth. FVRLibraries booth was also one of only a few booths who provided a hands-on activity that allowed participants to take home their finished creation. Attendees at Maker Faire included hobbyists, educators, commercial makers, and lots of parents and their children. We continue to see interest and appreciation for maker activities that allow inter-generational collaboration. Saturday we completed well over 350 prints with most prints worked on by a child and at least one parent. Sunday we finished off the last of the fabric (~120 pieces) and continued printing on paper. Special shout-out to Elsbeth who provided connectagons as an easy activity for smaller makers on Saturday as well as scratch art when we had to put the printing supply away to dry for Sunday (even though it rained Sunday).  And shout-out to Dre for picking up the leadership role on Sunday so Jamie could be in-branch.

Visitors seemed surprised and delighted to see the library doing something so hands-on, and many of them asked about how they could access the materials to re-create the project at home. We also had some conversations about other maker offerings at the library.  More than one participant mentioned that they were teachers looking for ideas they could recreate in the classroom and loved our screen printing idea.

Staffing was pretty much perfect for the set-up we had. We definitely felt a crunch when someone ducked out for their lunch break, but altogether we worked out a system. Generally, three people were able to keep up with the flow of people visiting our table, while the other two rinsed screens and stencils, hung them out to dry, dumped and fetched water, assembled screens and other materials, etc.

It would have been ideal to have more time for networking. Jamie spoke to two librarians from Multnomah County who took our What’s Happening for other Maker booths asking about our programs. Dre did have the opportunity to speak to a librarian from Hillsboro who was stationed next to us, and to touch base with Blake Swenson from Tinker Camp (who was a presenter at All Staff Day). Overall, though, we did the most important work: engaging with members of the community in an enriching way. It was messy and relentless and entirely awesome.

It was an incredibly fun and rewarding experience.  I felt the project was perfect for a wide range of ages and abilities; and the kids loved it!  I was surprised when I went to check out the other booths that not very many were like ours and made me realize why we were so popular.  One of the things that made the experience so awesome was the sheer number of folks who came to our booth!  It was exhausting but completely worth it.  I also enjoyed getting to work with my awesome co-workers in a new environment.  We definitely learned some things that would make it easier on staff for next time; knowing the high volume of participants.  I would love to do it again!  It was a great day!

Staff Training on Maker Tools

With a generous community donation, VA has acquired several new pieces of equipment to enhance our experiential learning opportunities for the public. Several staff members have requested training on the different equipment we offer to the public. I sent out a survey in July to gauge interest from staff.

Through the month of August, we conducted the following trainings on the most-requested equipment:

3D printer: 25 staff trained ( I made a lot of keychains this month...)

Side note: I am in love with Polymaker Polylite PLA. We just bought a 3K spool and we're respooling it onto all the empty 1K spools.

Cricut: 17 staff trained (we named our Cricut to help staff remember how to pronounce "cricut" correctly)

Soldering: 6 staff trained

STEM Toys: 12 staff trained

Sewing: 8 staff trained

Following training, staff have been more enthusiastic about asking questions and using the equipment. They speak confidently to visitors and patrons about the equipment and what they are currently working on. Having a better working knowledge of the new experiences we provide the public helps us better market our experiential learning opportunities to the public.  Several of the projects completed after training will be marketed at the libraries’ booth at Rose City Comic Con in September and Maker Faire at OMSI.

2018 August Experiential Learning RoundUp!

Programming:
Most experiential maker programming took a break in August to focus on staff training on the new VA equipment. (see staff development).

SLA reported that the Make a Better World attendees wanted to continue to meet through August. They met informally throughout August and continued to work on plastic mats. We are planning on continuing MaBW into the fall and hope to keep the enthusiasm and momentum currently held by this group.

SLA continues to lead the weekly Craft Connections adult crafting program.

Youth SLAs continued weekly story time programs and summer reading programming, finishing with BubbleFest the weekend of August 11. All story time and children’s programming are on break until Sept 4. Youth Services staff are working on their fall/winter programs and supply inventory after another successful summer reading program.

Community Connections:
I met with 5 librarians from Multnomah County Library District: They are all relatively new in position at MultCo and are working on expanding the makerspace offerings to a wider age range. We visited the Teen Room as well as the many places we hold maker programming throughout VA. We discussed wider collaboration and idea sharing moving forward with a quarterly maker meetup for librarians in our area.  I explained our challenges and how we successfully integrate all-ages programming into our various spaces.  We also discussed staff training and utilization of staff based on skills and interest.  MultCo was very interested in learning how we decide which programs we offer. I told them the most valuable feedback comes from direct interaction with our patrons during other maker programs and listening to their questions and ideas.  MultCo asked about my training and I told them I am largely self-trained. I ask patrons what they want to learn, and then I learn enough to help patrons get started. MultCo was impressed with my attitude and have co-opted my motto as their own for 2019: “What do you want to learn? We can learn all this crap.”

District Collaboration:
I attended orientation for OMSI PDX Mini-Maker Faire in September. I have coordinated district-wide staff to represent our libraries during the event. 11 staff members will all assist during the 2-day event with a hands-on interactive booth and will also have the opportunity to attend the Faire and meet other makers in the area.

We invited IT and Program Services to attend our staff trainings on 3D printing. Aaron from IT and Janet from Marketing joined us. Aaron indicated he enjoyed learning more about how we train and work with the public on 3D printing projects.

I went out to WA to assist with 3D printer setup and demonstration. SLA and I created a short how-to video on unboxing the 3D printer that anyone in the district can view, should they need help getting the equipment set up.



Professional Development:
I attended a virtual tour of the Boise State University makerspace within Albertsons’ Library. It was a treat to see this makerspace currently moving into a new 4,000 square foot space as I originally met with their Emerging Technologies and Experiential Learning Librarian, Amy Vecchione, in 2014 when they first started down this path with a reprap 3D printer on an A/V cart.

Both of my proposals will be included in the ALA publication 50 Coding Libraries for Libraries. My proposals focus on projects developed for VA’s Learn2Code program.