Making Connections: Planning the future of Library Makers

Library Makers (LM) is an initiative designed to share resources and learnings about how library makerspaces have and will continue to shift their services and programming in the coming years. Supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), this project prioritizes diverse and inclusive community building, both within the professional Community itself and for the libraries they serve. The LM community was created to address the needs of library professionals who are developing and delivering maker programs in diverse settings and locations across the country to have a place to share resources and learnings about how maker programming can be both sustainable and responsive to the 21st-century informational and learning needs of their local communities. The community, which evolved from a group of 12 underserved libraries in California and has grown to nearly 2500 members around the world, is experiencing a new phase of growth. The main objectives of this next phase are: (1) Identify and vet the current problems of practice that library maker staff face and, with community members, co-create a suite of professional development resources to build staff self-efficacy; (2) Expand access and exposure for libraries and communities that are traditionally underrepresented in collaborative and online forums, particularly those related to making; and (3) Develop a sustainable distributed leadership structure that focuses on professional growth for community members.