Makerspaces in the School Library Environment

Gina Ruocco

Daley, M., & Child, J. (2015). Makerspaces in the school library environment. Access

(10300155), 29(1), 42-49.

ET = Maker Spaces

CO = Collaboration

Article summary:

This article exams the experiences of two teacher librarians in Australia and how they have perceived the development of Makerspaces in school libraries. The article outlines key understanding of the “makerspace movement” and shares both personal and practical accounts of how a particular school has adopted the Makerspace framework in a Junior Library. Makerspaces promote shared ideas, knowledge, and using skills to work towards a common goal. However, as technology is used more and more to solve everyday problems, less time is spent questioning, inquiring, fixing, re-inventing and tinkering. Makerspaces can change that and provide a space for students to build and refine these skills.

Evaluation:

I thought this article was both helpful and inspiring. It clearly defined the term “Makerspace” which I found to be ambiguous in other readings and it explained why establishing this type of student-centered environment is so relevant. It also acknowledged the idea that not every project in a Makerspace has to be high-tech - which added a bit of realism to the article. Towards the end of the article, the authors provided examples of student-centered inquiry-based projects that were completed in the school libraries. It gave insight into real Makerspaces in action.