EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, 2015

EVENT: The Ann Arbor District Library and the University of Michigan School of Information will hold a joint public open house for Secret Lab, the library’s new community workshop where participants ages 6 and up can take part in hands-on activities with a Halloween theme.

PLACE: Ann Arbor District Library, Lower Level, 343 South Fifth Ave.

DETAILS: Although most of the plans for the Secret Lab remain a surprise, organizers offer a few hints: expect to create something with your hands and take part in an activity involving pumpkins. The 3D printers and library’s die cut machines will be howling.

Through an innovative community-campus partnership, U-M has access to the Ann Arbor District Library’s new space, providing School of Information students with a unique classroom space in which to develop their tool and craft skills, as well an opportunity to learn how to mentor children, encourage creativity, and tinker with new technology and new materials. Previous UMSI makerspaces have been created at local elementary and middle schools.

Kristin Fontichiaro, U-M clinical assistant professor of information, said the library is a great place to conduct her latest class “Makerspaces, Maker Culture, Maker Tools.”

“We are fortunate because Ann Arbor District Library librarians—some of whom have national reputations as artists and maker coordinators in their own right—sit in on class, help students acquire AADL tools to borrow, and facilitate use of AADL equipment,” she said.

Silvia Lindtner, assistant professor of information and art and design, who worked with Fontichiaro and AADL staff to develop the partnership, said that she is “very much looking forward to all our future collaborations.”

Lindtner and Fontichiaro have been awarded a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to develop makerspace education around the state, particularly in rural areas, in summers 2016 and 2017.

“Libraries have been places of creation for centuries,” said AADL Deputy Director Eli Neiberger. “In the Secret Lab, creativity can expand beyond the written word, as library users learn new skills, tools and techniques within a universally accessible, all-ages setting. We’re thrilled that UMSI has partnered with AADL to become the first regular user of this awesome new community resource.”

More information:

• U-M School of Information
• Kristin Fontichiaro
• Silvia Lindtner
• Michigan Makers