Today Tegan Davis is talking about her experience establishing a Digital Media Lab that now has a 3-D printer at the Park City Library. We talk process, policy, and procedure. Tegan also talks about her next adventure as she leaves Utah and the Park City Library for a new system, state, and type of librarianship! Tegan will continue her work on the Evil Librarians Podcast and Creative Libraries Utah, but she is off to greener pastures.
Resources we discuss:
Funding for the YouCreate Lab was provided by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Utah State Library, Park City Municipality and by the Friends of the Park City Library.
Part Two: Vision to Action
Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world — Joel Arthur Baker
Research and Funding: Know Your Ask
In January 2012, Heather Reynolds, the pervious Youth Services Librarian attended a webinar presented by Skokie Public Library on creating a digital media lab. This was the spark, which lead to a budget request by former Library Director, Linda Tillson. Digital media labs are fairly new and not a traditional component of libraries; however, Park City Municipality recognized the need to support the community’s development of 21st Century skills and granted a $5,000 budget increase specifically for the digital media lab!
Seven months later, Jasmina Jusic, Adult Services Librarian, Chris Roh, IT Coordinator, and I began extensively researching digital media labs and discussing how we could create a lab at the Park City Library. It became evident that our vision had developed beyond the previously conceived project scope and additional funding would be necessary. With encouragement from the Library Director, Jasmina and I co-wrote a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grant proposal for the first phase of the YouCreate Lab. In September 2012, the Park City Library was awarded the requested LSTA Grant funds of $15,492! Additionally, the Friends of the Library offered their support of the project by providing funding for books and materials.
Equipment and Setup: Phase I – Digital Multi-Media
The digital media lab includes three Apple desktop computers with software that enable users to creatively express themselves through digital videos, photography, websites, graphic design, podcasts, animation, presentations, and other forms of digital media. Also available for patrons to use are digital cameras, video camcorders and tripods; Wacom touch tablets and portable hard drives; a digital scanner, a slide scanner, and a green screen with lighting. The selection of these items were based upon a criterion that considers the 21st Century skill needs of the community, community interests, ease of usability, product reviews, durability, cost and longevity. Acquisition of the digital media lab equipment, software, and hardware transpired over a few months through direct purchasing with vendors (Apple and Adobe), utilizing Amazon.com and purchasing assistance provided by Park City’s IT Department. (Although, the IT Department doesn’t currently support Macintosh computers, they were receptive and excited about the YouCreate Lab.)
The Park City Library invested a substantial amount of time organizing and preparing a digital media lab for community use. A large study room, which was originally an office, was selected and reposed for the YouCreate Lab due to the counter top and cabinetry already in place. The windows into the study room were blacked via construction paper until the lab’s ‘big reveal’. Jasmina, Chris, and I were responsible for setting up the hardware and installing the software; however, multiple staff members assisted with the project. For instance, Circulation and Cataloging staff ordered reference materials for the digital media lab, cataloged, designed, and programed equipment kits for ‘in house’ use as well as for ‘check out’. Team effort is what made the YouCreate Lab possible!
Policy and Procedures: House Rules for Your Community
Prior to co-writing the YouCreate Lab’s policies and procedures, Jasmina and I researched how other libraries were establishing a foundation for digital media labs use. For example, we studied Skokie Public Library’s rules and Chicago Public Library’s YOUmedia guidelines and adapted concepts that were appropriate for our community. The policies, procedures and user agreement form we composed, reflected our community and provided equitable access while adhering to library policies and procedures already in place. In 2013, these documents were proposed to the Library Board for discussion and revisions. After a few revisions, the documents were submitted to Park City’s Legal Department. Subsequently, more legal revisions followed and the final documents were presented to the Library Board for a unanimous approval.
Stay tuned next week for Part Three: Vision to Action to Engagement
By: Tegan Davis, Park City Library Youth and Spanish Services Manager
TechSoup offers some great information to think about when considering 3D printer policies.
http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org/blog/3d-printers-and-library-policy
Posted by: Kristen Stehel
Utah State Library
How do you envision your community utilizing the library? Do you imagine content creation, collaboration, engagement and entertainment? Are you interested in having a Digital Media Lab, Makerspace, or Recording Studio in your library? Why not have all three? These were the questions we were asking ourselves in 2012 at the Park City Library and in the spring of 2013, our YouCreate Lab opened as Utah’s first digital media lab in a public library.
Park City Library’s YouCreate Lab is collaborative community space with state of the art software and equipment that enables people to creatively express themselves through digital videos, photography, websites, graphic design, podcasts, presentations, and other forms of digital media. This new space encourages the development of 21st Century Skills, such as information, media, communications, and technology literacies, which are essential for today’s global economy. The lab provides everyone in the community with opportunities to pursue their creative aspirations whether that is digitizing family slides, creating art, movies, apps, or animation. The lab includes equipment that can be used in the library as well as borrowed.
This post will be the beginning of a brief series on how we built the YouCreate Lab, so you can too!
Part One: Vision
“The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.” — R. David Lankes in The Atlas for New Librarianship
Know Your Community: From personal jet planes to food banks
The Park City Library is a small library located on the eastern side of the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains in Summit County in the State of Utah. According the to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population estimate base for Park City was 7,558 with an estimated growth of 3.5% for 2011. Historically a mining town, Park City is now a world-class resort town that attracts over 3 million annual visitors. A few of the attractions include three nationally ranked ski resorts, the Sundance Film Festival, the Utah Olympic Park (a winter sports park built for the 2002 Winter Olympics), nationally ranked mountain biking trails; fly fishing, hiking, dining, and shopping.
Park City demographics mirror the state’s trend in which the majority of residents are Caucasian with a growing Latino population; in Park City, the Latino population accounts for about 24% of residents, which is significantly higher than Utah’s average of 13% (2010 U.S. Census). Residents of Park City average a median household income of $61,383; however, 9.1% of Park City’s population lives below the poverty line. The 2010 U.S. Census data illustrates the while Park City’s ‘persons below poverty level’ is 2.3% lower than the state’s average; it’s almost 3% higher than Summit County’s average. The data exposes the disparity between the perceived affluence of Park City and the reality of residents who have a hard time affording safe housing, food, health care, and education.
Assess the Need: 21st Century Skills
In today’s society, success is achieved by efficiently navigating a plethora of information using critical thinking and problem solving skills while effectively collaborating and communicating within a global context. Park City’s community embraced the development of 21st Century Skills within the school district by implementing the “high access” initiative, which provides every student (grades 6 through 12) a laptop and access to digital media labs in schools. This initiative impacts less than a quarter of Park City’s population. Therefore, the Park City Library has an opportunity and commitment to bridging the digital divide and supporting the whole community’s development of 21st Century Skills.
Vision: By building the YouCreate Lab
The library will provide:
The library will facilitate:
The YouCreate Lab aligns the library with our community’s values.
Three Phased Approached:
Three Foundational Outcomes:
Stay tuned next week for Part Two: Vision to Action
By: Tegan Davis, Park City Library Youth and Spanish Services Manager
The Park City Library’s After School Club created a Summer Reading Teaser Trailer for 2014’s program using stop animation techniques and the Park City Library’s YouCreate Lab’s equipment.
A big thanks to Colorado State Library for pooling together resources for Makerspaces!
http://create.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/
Whiteboard animation loosely based upon Homer’s Iliad. Created for Junior Classical League. Placed first in NCJCL (North Carolina) State competition. Placed first in NJCL National 10th grade entry. Made at Imaginon in Charlotte, North Carolina. Original Soundtrack created by Rachel Rust with animation collabration between Rachel and Rebekah Rust.
How to guide: Stop-motion_animation_-_Anythink
Stop-motion animation tutorials for Windows: http://tinkergroup.wordpress.com/
From the Stop-motion animation PLA program, Kristen Stehel from the Utah State Library participated in a team project and created the following video.
Makerspaces, digital media labs, create spaces, play spaces, studios, you name it! A place to create at the library is surfacing in conversations nationwide as more libraries express interest in this type of library service.
March 9-15 is Teen Tech Week! Here is a great resource from the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).
Here is a link to the Build-a-Lab series hosted by the Utah State LIbrary. This five-part series features libraries from all over the nation speaking about the create spaces in their libraries. https://creativelibrariesutah.org/category/digital-media-labs/
The Ela Area Public Library has two digital media labs in the same building. The purpose of the digital media labs is to provide Library patrons with a space where they may use various digital media technologies that support their educational, professional, and personal goals and endeavors.
Presentation slides: www.slideshare.net/abelden
Topics:
Audience: All library workers
Host: Utah State Library
Series: Build-a-Lab
Instructor: Anne Belden
Service Population: 33,000
Learn about this exciting new Makerspaces lab in Lomira QuadGraphics Community Library, Wisconsin, where there is equipment to make digital art or physical objects. Residents can also convert formats: from VHS to DVD for example, or convert slides and photos to digital images. People can create print, audio, video, web design and other digital files that can help them with their business, school, hobbies, or help them to just have fun. Topics:
Host: Utah State Library
Audience: All library workers
Instructor: Shannon Barniskis
Service Population: 3,000
