Makerspaces: A Practical Guide for Librarians

Practical guides for librarians

by John J. Burke

Makerspaces: A Practical Guide for Librarians helps librarians create Diy (do-it-youself) spaces in academic or public libraries. Through this text, librarians will understand the mindset behind the maker movement; learn how to assess patron needs; and create a budget for and equip these spaces.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Library Science, Professional Development

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John J. Burke, MSLS is the Library Director & Principal Librarian of the Gardner-Harvey Library, Miami University, Middletown.

Reviews

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a whole lot of information that I hadn't already synthesized for myself from numerous blogs, MLS forums, and other professional development resources. However, I'm hoping it will be helpful to convince our director to be more open-minded in his understanding of makerspace philosophy and pedagogy.

A lot of the resources listed in the appendix and throughout are already outdated, which is disappointing, but not wholly unexpected. People run blogs and then chose to stop posting for myriad reasons.

I was disappointed that there were any example makerspace policies or even a template for us to use in developing our own makerspace policy.

In all, if you've been living under a rock for the past five years and know very little about makerspaces, then this book will be helpful. But, if you've kept abreast of the trend as a lurker, then you probably won't gain a lot of new insights from Makerspaces: A Practical Guide for Librarians.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though the book is almost 5 years old, not only is it a realistic approach to makerspaces, it gives the stats to back up what works and what doesn't, what each of 150 (I think) different libraries (public, academic, and school) have found successful or haven't used.
It offers tons of websites and blogs for unique ideas.
It describes the budgeting, space, staffing, time commitment to each, different kinds of makerspaces, how and where to find the supplies, funds, marketing and more...really is a practical guide.
I've read a lot of librarian's guide books and I found myself taking notes on this one...as in...a lot of notes.

[Brandon O'Neill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good ideas in here.

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as the subtitle says, this is a very useful guidebook to the process of developing makerspaces in libraries. If your library is anywhere in the beginning stages of planning or creating maker programming or spaces, this is the book to have with you.