SW Library Camp 2014

So I'm going to be honest. Despite booking my ticket weeks ago I wasn't really sure about library camp. After helping to organise the SW one last year I had found that I really hadn't enjoyed the event. Part of this could be put down to the stress of running the schedule on the day. However a lot of it was down to the lack of focus during sessions. Library Camp, by it's nature, is more like a conversation than a training session and for some reason I find this aspect slightly unsettling, and certainly unsatisfying. 

Couple this with the fact that, after recently going through the selection process for a new job, I am exhausted. And by this I mean achy in the morning, bone weary, struggling to string sentences together, tired. So the last thing I wanted to do on my first free Saturday for weeks was get up early and head into the depths of Devon. Especially carrying a bag full of CILIP portfolios for the professional qualifications session I had pitched. 

But I had pitched it, and therefore committed myself, at least in my mind. There was also the added incentive of seeing the Devon Fablab in operation along with a working 3d printer. If I'm honest, it was this which got me out of bed in the morning and nothing else. And this aspect at least was worth the trip. 

At the end of today I'm afraid I don't feel very different about Library Camps. I'm glad I went. I think those people who attended my session on CILIP Qualifications got something out of it and I enjoyed leading the session. I also sort of enjoyed the discussion around Libraries as Community Hubs. But it was all a bit...... unsatisfying. In some ways covering the same ground, with the same problems and sticking points raising their heads. Maybe I expect too much of these events but I always feel that we should be challenging the status quo a little more. Certainly I don't like the lack of direction or conclusion to the discussions..

What today felt like was a string of showcases, first for the library itself, and then for a series of ideas and projects being led by individuals. I also felt that some of the community aspect of the camp was lost, that it was little too organised, a little too formulaic. For example, I had pitched two ideas briefly on the wiki. I wasn't given the opportunity, as I had expected, to explain these brief descriptions or pitch them myself. And to be honest, I found this slightly odd. But Library Camp is like that, anything goes. And I know from experience that you can't please everyone and that logistically the day is a nightmare. So, you, know. Whatever works.  Just because it doesn't suit me doesn't mean that everyone else didn't have a great time. Or that it didn't have value. One thing I did enjoy was reconnecting with my Public Library roots and finding out about what is happening in that sector, beyond the dire situation around 'community' libraries and volunteers.

What was brilliant about the day was seeing the refurbished Exeter Library. And most of all the Fablab and the Raspberry Pi Jam that was happening in the adjourning meeting room in the morning. Because I'm pulling together information on Making in Libraries I nipped down and had a chat before the organised tours. It was lovely to be made welcome and taken into the fold. I had no doubt that had I decided to stay one of the guys there would have happily walked me through what was going on and let me have a try myself. This, more than anything is what stayed with me. That as a complete novice I felt welcome, and if I had had the time, the opportunity to give things a go. Later I was told that they would be running workshops that would take complete beginners through the process of working with the 3d printers. 

During the formal tour we learnt more about plans for the space, the ethos behind it, the plans to make it sustainable and efforts to tie it into the libraries' business development work. It's an exciting concept linking to the existing Makers and coders in the area as well as the college and university. There are even plans to get the local embroiderers guild involved to help use the high tech stitching machine they have bought.  

I should be clear, this will not be a totally free space, like many Makerspaces it will work on a gym like subscription service with prices dependent on the type and need of the user. Although funding has been provided to buy equipment it has to become self sustaining. 

To help run the space volunteers get time on machines in return for their contributions and there is a commitment to make the space available on an open access, pay as you go, basis at least one day per week.  A completely free Makerspace is probably not sustaiable in this climate and even if charging does seem against the grain in public libraries there certainly  seems to be a commitment to making the technology and tools as accessible as possible. 

Volunteers will also help run ongoing Raspberry Pi events and the planned coding events for kids - not replacing existing staff but sharing their knowledge and adding real value to the service. It's a form of volunteering that, given the often negative connotations in public libraries nowadays, should really be highlighted as good practice. Volunteering that allows the offer of a service that would not otherwise be possible and which  everyone, the volunteer, the user and the service, will benefit from in some way or another. 

I especially liked hearing about the basic 3d printer they have bought, as opposed to the larger Makerbots that made my bracelet.  This is easy to transport and set up and the aim is that it can be taken out and about - into schools and branch libraries, to do events and workshops. Exactly the sort of accessible and adaptable 'Making' that gets me excited.

So, if nothing else the Fablab made my trip to Devon worth it. Especially as I got a wee momentum in the form of a 3d printed bracelet (Pictured above) during my visit. I've also got a few more leads for my research and learnt a lot about the smaller events going on around coding and Raspberry Pi. So while it would have been nice to spend the day in bed, it was in fact a Saturday well spent. 

3D Printing in Education

3D printing has been popping up in the most unlikely of places. While you may have seen recent articles in the technology supplements how many of you would have expected to see a piece while reading Easyjet's inflight magazine? I didn't, but it certainly distracted me from the man with no sense of personal space on my flight to Cyprus last month.

Some people might be surprised to learn that the process has been around since the 1980's. As with much technology the cost was prohibitive so while engineers, manufacturers and universities have been using the technology to create prototypes it has, until recently, not been available to the general public. 
The sudden surge in interest has been mainly down to costs significantly reducing recently, allowing more people access to the technology.  While top end machines still run into the hundreds of thousands machines such as the the Makerbot Replicater2 can be bought for a little over $2,000. Not quite on par with your average desktop printer but not exactly millionaire territory either. And if you don't want to buy a machine yourself there are plenty of online services willing to create your object for you. 3D printing is rapidly becoming a serious commercial entity.

Anyone watching 3D printing for the first time might be forgiven for attributing it almost magical status. However the process is relatively simple. Using a 3D scan or model as a template 3D printers work in much the same way as your desktop inkjet. The difference is that instead of just one layer of 'ink' a 3D printer continues to build up layers until the finished model is created.

These layers can be made up of nearly anything - liquid, gel, plastic, powder, even chocolate. For complex shapes some machines use a support material which is removed once the final model is complete. Other techniques involves using an laser to solidify a synthetic liquid. Another, such as this one from Mcor, uses paper as it's raw material. Regardless of the technique the beauty of this type of fabrication is that it is flexible, relatively fast and doesn't have the large start up costs of traditional manufacturing. Basically, if you can model it (or get someone else to model it for you) you can print it. 

In the US 3D printers have already infiltrated the public library with them now available in some MakerSpaces such as this one in Westport Library. Having worked in public libraries I can easily see why business services such as those run by Manchester Libraries might embrace 3D printing as part of their remit.  When you consider the issues surrounding copyright and IP there really might be no better place to have them. Not only could an inventor learn about patenting their creation they could see it realised as a prototype at the same time.

However 3D printing caught my interest initially due to it's artistic possibilities. I flirted briefly with 3D modelling  while studying sculpture and the major disadvantage to me was that it was prohibitively expensive to have anything created in a physical form. Even though there may have been a 3D printer squirrelled away in the engineering department, as a lowly art student I certainly didn't have access to it. My 3D renders stayed just that, renders on a 2D screen. Yet if I was working on the same items today it would be a relatively simple process, and certainly a much cheaper one, to send my model off to one of the numerous online services who offer to make it a reality.

 

Once on the subject of art and design it didn't take long for me to start thinking about other uses in  education. While it might be tempting to dismiss 3D printing as a gimmick, especially while print quality on the cheaper machines is still questionable, there are seem to be some interesting applications that shouldn't be discounted.

This case study from the British Columbia Anthropology Museum explains excellently just one of these application - giving students access to objects that would normally be to precious or fragile for students to handle. While in this case the objects are museum specimens the same process could easily apply to unusual medical items such as deformed bones or organs. Take this a step further with the consideration that 3D printers are already capable of printing living tissue  and the applications within medical schools, and indeed medicine in general, is endless.

As an FE librarian however my focus is a bit more mundane. While it would certainly be beneficial for our students  to have access to specimens from other institutes I'm not sure how much it would really excite them. For me it is the process of seeing a creation come to life which would really engage students and so it is these applications that I see as the real selling point of 3D printers. It's exactly this process which is described by the University of Nevada who have recounted the enthusiastic response to their newly acquired 3D printers.

With a little research it didn't take me long to come up with some ideas, many of which will already have been put into practise elsewhere, such as can be seen in this video from  Clevedon School. These include:

• Edible decorations for catering students.
• Specialist tools and parts for engineering students
• 3D models across a variety of courses including geography, architecture and science.
• Character creation across a number of courses including English and Game Design
• Various applications in ceramics and 3D design where imagination could literally be the limit.
• Design and creation of unique musical instruments.
• Design and creation of circuit boards in computing and electronics.

One idea I especially like links into the enterprise remit of many colleges, including my own. Instead of asking students to develop a business idea why not give them a design brief and have them see the process through from market research to finished prototype. What better way to end such a project than to have the finished designs created by the students!

I'm sure many teachers could find an application for 3D printing in their work and although machines are few in schools and colleges at the minute it's likely that the situation will rapidly change. It'll be interesting to see the outcome of the current government study that is exploring the capabilities of 3D printing by providing equipment to a number of schools across the country.  I just hope that this equipment won't become the jealously guarded property of IT departments because their scope for use across the entire curriculum seems endless, limited (almost) only by imagination.