63 Ready-to-Use Maker Projects

This new compilation from editor and maker Kroski spotlights a multitude of creative projects that you can tailor for your own library. Librarians and makers from across the country present projects as fun as an upcycled fashion show, as practical as Bluetooth speakers, and as mischievous as a catapult. Included are projects for artists, sewers, videographers, coders, and engineers. The handy reference format will help you quickly identify the estimated costs, materials, and equipment; and because several projects don’t even require a dedicated makerspace, every library can join in. Inside you’ll find how-to guidance for projects like

• a foam rocket launcher;
• stop-motion animation with 3D print characters;
• found-object robots;
• glowing ghost marionettes;
• Arduino eTextiles;
• magnetic slime;
• yarn painting;
• fidget flannels;
• an LED brooch; and
• cardboard sculpture.

With takeaways like origami tea lights or a t-shirt tote bag, your patrons will be sure to remember how much fun your library can be.

Ellyssa Kroski is the director of information technology at the New York Law Institute as well as an award-winning editor and author of 36 books, including Law Librarianship in the Digital Age, for which she won the American Association of Law Libraries' Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award in 2014. Her ten-book technology series, The TECH SET (R), won the ALA's Best Book in Library Literature Award in 2011. She is a librarian, an adjunct faculty member at Drexel University and San Jose State University, and an international conference speaker.