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Librarian Lauren Smedley has a broad vision of what public libraries can be to their patrons, and she's putting that vision to the test with changes at her own, the Fayetteville Free Library in central New York. The library — which is fittingly housed in a former furniture factory — is getting a Fab Lab to encourage makers and hackers, and will include equipment such as a MakerBot, a CNC router, and a laser cutter.
The library's plans include offering free classes such as an introductory course in 3D printing, 3D design software training, and computer programming. Smedley also plans on offering Geek Girl Camps, which encourage girls and women to get into geekier pursuits. The video below offers and introduction to both the Fayettville Library, its progressive librarian, and the lab which it plans to build.
Comments
FYI: “Fab Lab” means something, and this isn’t it.
jeffwheeler - November 12, 2011
Haha, true. This is much more of a makerspace than “Fab Lab” (of which there is only one).
DoctorFunk - November 13, 2011
I’m actually in the midst of working on a documentary about these places (hackerspaces or makerspaces) all over the world, and it’s really interesting to see how they change based on the environment and culture. New York City already has a few, like NYC Resistor, the hackerspace that MakerBot came from.
I’m interested to see a new one still in NYC, and in such a public place. I’m excited to see these be accessible to anyone that’s interested, it’s really a growing thing, and there’s huge interest all over. Egypt comes to mind, people were so very excited about the concept…. some students even got a functional hackerspace up and a conference at a college just a couple days after hearing about the concept!
Anyway, I’m really excited to see this movement become more and more awesome, as I’ve been witnessing it do all over the world.
DoctorFunk - November 13, 2011
What’s the eta on your doc? How will it be distributed?
myChrisD'Angelo - November 15, 2011
Damn lack of edit feature. Basically, that’s not quite true about Fab Lab, there’s more than one, bur they’re all essentially run as part of the same thing.
DoctorFunk - November 13, 2011
This is AWESOME. I’m moving to New York later this year and I’ve been a little on-edge… NOT ANYMORE!!!
joycehoughton - November 12, 2011
this is freaking awesome!
Toucans - November 12, 2011
Ok, somebody please write a patch for Android that displays this warning at the appropriate moment:
“You appear to be recording a portrait video. This will look very stupid and be incredibly frustrating for all viewers. Are you sure you wish to continue this misguided act?”
Timmmm - November 12, 2011
Perhaps the first purchase for this “Fab Lab” should be an actual video camera. I know it’s a crazy concept, but video cameras are pretty ‘fab’…
Video quality aside, +1 to the library for thinking outside the box for the facility though…much better than the Guitar Hero competitions my local library uses to try to look ‘fab’.
web-shooters - November 12, 2011
This is a great idea. I would have loved to have a place to go when I was growing up to just try new stuff out. While learning how to write code is something that you can easily do from home, it’s would have been nice to have been able to ask questions.
Meyerjaw - November 12, 2011
Awesome! It would be nice to learn how to code with a more hands-on approach.
xing.fi - November 13, 2011
I hope Limor Fried aka Lady Ada from adafruit makes an appearance..
powers - November 13, 2011
DO THIS ALSO CHICAGO!
Deprogrammer9 - November 13, 2011
When will people learn how to hold their phone, when doing video.
This sucks so hard.
Jannik - November 14, 2011
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