School Library Makerspaces: Grades 6–12 - Softcover

Preddy, Leslie B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1610694945 ISBN 13: 9781610694940

Publisher: Libraries Unlimited, 2013

Synopsis

An essential resource for intermediate, middle, and high school librarians that guides the planning, learning, and implementation of a school library makerspace.

The roles of school library media specialists and school libraries themselves are ever changing in response to the needs of the community and the evolution of human thinking, interaction, and learning processes. A school library makerspace can provide patrons with a place for learning, doing, and creating. It offers a location for tackling inventions, fine arts, crafts, industrial technology, hobbies, e-textiles, foodcrafting, DIY couture, fabrication, upcycling, and STEM right in the middle of the information gateway―the library. This book completely explains the makerspace concept and supplies real-world implementation guidance and inexpensive programming ideas that can be used as-is or adapted to suit a specific library or community's needs. Readers will be able to hit the ground running to implement their own makerspace with practical project ideas they can put to use immediately.

About this title

About the Author

Leslie B. Preddy is the president of AASL and has been the school librarian at Perry Meridian Middle School in Indianapolis, IN, since 1992.

Reviews

This guide to setting up and justifying a maker space begins promisingly with practical and helpful information on topics such as space and setup, budgeting, necessary materials and equipment and safety rules. Preddy connects the idea of the school library maker space with the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner as well as the common core and the STEM movement. She outlines the possibility of rewarding the makers with digital badges and participatory recognition. She also suggests that some of the making should be done in the school community for the greater good, rather than simply the making itself. The bulk of this book is made up of potential projects to do in the school makerspace, ranging from making lip balm and soap to weaving and storyboarding. The focus is on analog rather than digital, with the only tech-based project being creating a video. While this book may be of use to the solo practitioner, it suffers from poor design. Dark and shadowy photographs vary from project to project, cluttered pathfinder pages, as well as the orientation of directions, change from vertical to horizontal for a single project (pg. 110), making the instructions hard to understand. Much of the information contained within is available online in a more attractive format. Indeed, one of the sources sited (makerspace.com) has a free "playbook" available on this very subject.—Stacy Dillon, LREI, New York City

Edition details

• Publisher: Libraries Unlimited
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1610694945
• ISBN 13: 9781610694940
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208