Makerspace Resources – The InfoMan’s Page

The resources below were compiled as part of my research while writing Makerspaces: A Practical Guide for Librarians (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014). You might also be interested in the results from the Makerspaces in Libraries Survey I conducted in 2013.

General Makerspace Resources
Makerspace Directories
Library-Focused Maker Resources
Project Sites
Maker Products
Makerspace Funding and Donation Sources
Discussion Lists
Twitter Hashtags and Folks to Follow
Facebook Groups
General Technology Sites and Blogs

General Makerspace Resources

Make:: The website for Make: magazine contains a blog, videos, project information, and links to the other Maker Media sites. The projects are sorted by category and rated for difficulty.

Maker book lists: A series of maker book lists created by Meredith Nelson, Johnson County Public Library, organized by age and by type of making. A great place to track down some maker titles for your library collection.

Maker Movement Manifesto: Chapter 1 – Mark Hatch, 2014.

Maker Education Initiative: Sponsored by Maker Media, Intel, Cognizant, and Pixar, the Maker Education Initiative is dedicated to getting kids making. There are free resources provided on the site to help plan programs.

Maker Faire: Advertises maker faires and provides information on taking part in them. It is a very helpful way to find a maker event near you.

The Maker Mom: A blog that highlights making resources, especially focused on STEM resources for kids.

YOUmedia Network: YOUmedia manages digital learning labs for youth in a variety of locations. They offer a toolkit for forming a makerspace program and links to resources that can help in the planning process.

Makerspace Directories

Makerspace.com has a directory of makerspaces.

Make: has a list of maker community groups.

The MakerMap is an open-source directory of making organizations and sites that provides a searchable Google Maps interface to help you locate local and regional makers.

Hackerspaces

MIT’s Fab Lab List.

Library-Focused Maker Resources

Maker & DIY Programs: This site, produced by the Young Adult Library Services Assocation (YALSA), contains many useful resources on making activities in libraries, including the “Making in the Library Toolkit.”

INFOhio Maker Movement: A site that defines makerspaces and has links to a variety of learning projects that involve making.

Make it @ Your Library: This site was created by a group of librarians participating in ILEAD USA to identify creative projects that could be carried out at libraries, in collaboration with Instructables.com.

Build-a-Lab Digital Media Lab Training Series: This site hosts a series of four archived webinars sponsored by the Utah State Library in 2014 on digital media labs and makerspaces around the United States. Provides information on how the labs were created and the services they offer.

Library as Incubator Project: This blog highlights the connections between artists and libraries and shares creative opportunities and resources.

Library Makers: A blog dedicated to promoting making projects, particularly ones aimed toward children and focused on arts and crafts.

Library Makerspaces: This is a Pinterest board with links to many maker projects and products. It is a great way to browse for projects.

Make It at the Library – Makerspace Resources: A collection of makerspace examples, funding resources, and making materials created by the Idaho Commission for Libraries.

MakerBridge: This site offers discussion forums for people working in library makerspaces, as well as a blog and lists of recommended tools for making.

Makerspaces: An excellent collection of makerspace resources created by students in the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science as part of a larger wiki entitled “Youth Services Librarianship: A Guide to Working with Young People in School and Public Libraries.”

Technology Toolbox: A guide filled with resources on presentations, multimedia production, and 3D printing, developed by Emily Thompson at the State University of New York at Oswego.

Project Sites

Adafruit Learning System: This site is a collection of tutorials and project ideas for working with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Lilypad, circuits, 3D printing, and more.

Cubeecraft: A collection of paper craft patterns of various types that can be printed for folding.

Instructables.com: Instructables is the place to find project instructions to make all sorts of things. If something can be made, there is probably a video here on how to make it. You can also post your own projects here.

Make It at Your Library: A cooperative project of ILEAD USA graduates (a library leadership program) and Instructables.com, the site offers various types of making projects. The projects can be sorted by topic, age level, time to complete, and cost.

NIH 3D Print Exchange: “Provides access to a community-contributed database of bioscientific 3D-printable files.”

Thingiverse: This site is a repository of 3D designs that are open for anyone to modify or print using a 3D printer.

RepRap Object Library: a small selection of 3D designs.

YouMagine.com: spot to share and locate designs.

Cubehero.com: spot to share and locate designs.

Bld3r.com: Shows results from all the object repositories from its site and serves as a place to upload your designs.

Yeggi.com: A search engine of many 3D design sites.

Yobi3D: A search engine for 3D objects that displays the results as 3D previews.

Maker Products

Afinia: Information on using your Afinia 3D printer and a gallery of printed projects.

Arduino: Offers project information and support for using Arduinos.

MakerBot: The 3D printer vendor site offers many bits of advice on 3D printing along with information on its products.

Maker Shed: The official store of Make: magazine.

Materials, Tools, and Kits: A lengthy list of maker products with links to purchase them or learn more about them.

Raspberry Pi: The site provides projects and support to use with Raspberry Pi.

SparkFun Electronics: A great place to shop for electronic gadgets, including items for e-textiles, robotics, circuits, and Raspberry Pis. The company offers educator kits, which are bulk amounts of materials to get a whole class making.

Makerspace Funding and Donation Sources

Donors Choose: A site for public school teachers to post their classroom needs and then see if donors will choose to fund them. It could be a resource for your school library makerspace to seek some equipment.

Institute of Museum and Library Services-Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums: A series of grant programs offered to help create digital learning labs in libraries and museums, with links to successfully funded programs and resources related to digital literacy and projects.

TechSoup: An organization that collects donated technology from partner organizations and distributes it to nonprofit organizations and libraries.

Discussion Lists

K-12 Digital Fabrication Labs: This Google Group is primarily aimed at K-12 makerspaces and maker activities.

Librarymakerspace-l: A discussion list for librarians with library makerspaces.

Twitter Hashtags and Folks to Follow

The following list shows Twitter hashtags, search terms, and Twitter accounts to follow for information on making. There are many more out there, depending on your specific making interests, but these will get you started:

#makerspace (with or without “library”)

Facebook Groups

There are two groups with a specific focus on library makerspaces. You can find similarly minded individuals here to share your makerspace questions:

Makerspaces and the Participatory Library

Vermont Libraries as Makerspaces

General Technology Sites and Blogs

ALA TechSource: The American Library Association’s TechSource blog provides discussions on many technologies used in libraries and elsewhere, and it has covered makerspace developments in libraries.

Boing Boing: A blog that features all sorts of interesting stories about technology and culture. Covers topics that might be of interest to makers, including ones that directly mention makers and makerspaces.

EDUCAUSE: A site and blog focused on developments in technology that affect higher education.

Engadget: A site and blog for news and reviews on many technology products.

Gizmodo: A site and blog for stories about technology news and products.

Mashable: A site and blog for news and resources related to our digital world.

The Next Web: A blog focused on international technology news.

ReadWrite: A technology news blog.

Wired: A blog for Wired magazine, which reports on many technology issues including online resources.