Making Our Makerspace Even Better

We are closing out on year two of the Kilmer Library Makerspace. Ours was one of the early library makerspace initiatives in FCPS and it is incredibly exciting to see makerspaces become more common additions to school library programs in our district. I believe passionately in our maker effort -- it allows our students to build their critical and creative thinking skills, to collaborate and communicate as they work together. It is in direct alignment with the 21st century skills we talk about so often in education and meets the student needs that we were not previously addressing. It serves as a safe haven for many students and brings others in who have not been traditional library users.

​However, our makerspace is no longer new and novel to Kilmer and I am at the point where I need to become more reflective in order to sustain our maker efforts. ​​

What Works

• Variety - for us, it has been important to have a range of materials, activities, and tools available for our students. We have everything from paper crafts and Popsicle sticks to LEGOs and cardboard tubes to Makey Makeys and littleBits to 3D printers. Students can take things apart, put them back together, or repurpose one item into something else.

• Freedom - students have the power and creativity to work on anything they want. This year, we added long-term storage so that students can hold on to projects they are working on over time. I would like to include a cover sheet to each storage bin so that students can explain their project a bit. Additionally, a goal setting page could help keep them on track.

What Needs Work

• Regular Challenges - many of our students thrive on the freedom to play and create anything they want, but others require a bit of focus. We began the school year with monthly challenges around a theme, but we dropped off as the year progressed. I'd like to spend some time this summer building a set of challenges for each month that we can roll out throughout school year.

• Student Leadership - we need to develop some maker leaders to take ownership of the space. I need help keeping the space and the supplies organized and would like greater student involvement in updating our makerspace blog.
• Community Involvement - our makerspace quickly grew through lots of donations from our community. As we ran out of storage space, I stopped asking for donations which left our community less involved. I need to reinvigorate our partnerships with our Kilmer families for donations and also work to get parents with special skill sets involved in offering a workshop or course to our makers.​

What's Next

• Badging - I'd like to try out makerspace badging in some way. I've read a lot about digital badges and my brain is still churning on how to make this work at Kilmer. I'm also considering using print badges (on index cards, for example). I think many of our students would be motivated to earn badges such as 3D design, 3D printing, coding, working with circuits, papercraft, Rube Goldberg and so forth.
• Kilmer Maker Faire - we have exhibited at the NOVA Mini Maker Faire and been to others. I would like to host our own Kilmer Maker Faire for student makers with exhibits, displays and workshops run by Kilmer students.

I would love to hear from other librarians who are running makerspace programs -- how do you stay passionate and fresh as your makerspace evolves? 

Keep on Making!
​Gretchen

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• BubbleUp Take5: Positive Nudges, Cardboard, Meditation and More (October 31, 2016)
• You think you know what librarians do? Sorry, but chances are...you're wrong. (October 22, 2016)