Ideas for Makerspace Assessment

Do you have a makerspace in your library? The American Library Association describes makerspaces as:

Kids gather to make Lego robots; teens create digital music, movies, and games with computers and mixers; and students engineer new projects while adults create prototypes for small business products with laser cutters and 3D printers. Many libraries across the US have developed makerspaces—places to create, build, and craft—and they are experiencing increased visits and demand as a result. For public libraries, they are places to promote community engagement. For academic libraries, they are places where students and faculty feel welcome to do classwork and research (American Library Association, Makerspaces).

Many academic libraries are starting to purchase 3D printers and other techy and non-techy doo-dads and make them available to the public. But how do we assess the impact of these new spaces? What if the space that the makerspace is in is not monitored 24/7 by a librarian or student employee? Here are four ideas that I had to make assessment of an academic library's makerspace more fun.

 Lego Bar Chart

Photo Credit: Bruce Guenter, Flickr

Who did not love to play with Legos as a child? If you read the ALA's makerspace definition above, Legos are in the first sentence, making them a great addition to any makerspace. My idea with the Lego bar chart is to get feedback from makerspace users by having them contribute to an ever-growing Lego bar chart. The concept is simple: leave green, yellow, and red Legos in bowls on a table signifying three levels of feedback for the users. Behind the bowls, place a flat Lego "baseplate" with table-tent descriptions of what you want to know, but limit the questions to things that can be answered with Difficult, Moderately Difficult, or Easy or things you would ask on a 3-point Likert scale. Examples could be: How hard was it to use the 3D printer? How satisfied were you with the technology in the room? Legos can often be found at yard sales or thrift stores, so the cost for this idea needs not to be high. If you don't want to use Legos, find some 3D blocks on Thingiverse and print them with your library's 3D printer. You will need another method to follow up (think Post-Its or card catalog cards) in case the person wants to give additional feedback.

Postcards

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Create postcards with check boxes asking your assessment questions on one side and a blank front on the other. Have users of the space design the front with a drawing of what they did in the makerspace while they were there. Leave markers, pens, charcoals, glitter pens, and other decorative stuff to allow them to make the front of the postcard pretty. Put a real mailbox in the makerspace where they have to "mail" the postcard to the librarian. The mailbox can be attached to a wall or put on a stand in the space. This will have a minimal cost associated with it; a cheap mailbox will run the library $15-35 (or look at the ReStore) and the postcards can be printed in-house for the cost of heavy paper. Paint the mailbox to make it fit in with the maker theme, but don't go too far, or the users of the space might miss the point.

Posters and Die-Cuts

Photo Credit: TRC Production Center

Joyner Library is home of the Ann Rhem Schwarzmann Production Center in the Teaching Resources Center. This space contains many of the things you would find in a makerspace, including a vinyl letter cutter, a poster printer, a 3D printer, and even a button maker. The space was designed for pre-service teachers, but is available for use for anyone at ECU. The space also has die-cuts, which you would recognize from the bulletin boards from your elementary school classroom. The third idea that I have for assessment is to use the die-cuts to make a number of shapes using patterned and colored paper, and allowing people to give feedback on poster boards. The poster boards will have a prompt on them and  You could also encourage the users of the space to make their own die-cut or decorate it before they give their feedback, if they wish. Leave glue sticks or tape so that the makers can attach the die cuts to the poster or bulletin boards. The cost of this idea would be minimal and would include the cost of scrapbook paper, glue, and poster board.

Social Media/Hashtag

Create a simple hashtag for your makerspace and ask people to use their smartphones to photograph what they made while they were using the makerspace. Encourage the people to show not only finished products, but works in progress. Compile these images and use them in future promotional materials. You will need to get permission to use the images in your promotional materials, so plan ahead and get the permission while the users are in your makerspace.


Note: I am not the person responsible for the Production Lab at Joyner Library. These ideas are untested, so if you end up using them in your makerspace, please let me know!