We’ve been documenting the evolution of The Labs at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh since 2012, when the project had just secured a pilot grant. It’s all grown up now, and has grown up into a thoughtful and responsive makerspace model that adds real value to to the conversation. Check out the whole series on The Labs @ CLP. Enjoy! ~Erinn
by Corey Wittig
It’s rare in library land (at least in my experience) that new programs and services feel truly ready when the day for comes for implementation. Usually, something (a strategic plan, a grant, or other factor) ends up dictating your timeline and, as a result, launch date comes and there’s still much to be learned.
Perhaps it’s just that I’m a perfectionist. Or, maybe, as the folks behind the Library as Incubator Project have shown us, this period of iteration, experimentation, and adjustment is necessary in order to design anything resembling an inclusive program or service that reflects the goals of a library and the needs of its users. In a very real way, maybe this period never truly ends.
This period of iteration, experimentation, and adjustment is necessary in order to design anything resembling an inclusive program or service that reflects the goals of a library and the needs of its users. In a very real way, maybe this period never truly ends.
It’s not always the most comforting way to expand your service model, because you won’t feel ready. Staff and patrons may be surprised or confused when sewing machines or 3D printers show up near the public PCs. But there is value in this approach. Turning the library into an incubator for new patron experiences makes total sense– incubation happens in stages and requires, above all else, patience.
Developing The Labs has required a lot of patience and many adjustments along the way. Some important goals we set for ourselves in the beginning, like training staff to be more comfortable with the digital and traditional creative tools we’ve dropped into three of our locations (and made available through programming kits), have had to take a back seat to program design and implementation.
Developing The Labs has required a lot of patience and many adjustments along the way.
As documented in earlier LAIP posts on The Labs, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has hired community artist mentors from the start to deliver programming and work alongside our Teen Specialists, but, outside of our three weekly locations, it’s been difficult for mentors to find the time to work with staff, helping grow their capacity to work with digital media and other creative tools implemented in The Labs programming.
But Professional Development (PD) is crucial, so we had to find a way to make it happen. With the development of Learning with The Labs– CLP’s professional development series for all interested staff–we have finally found a way to bring project-based learning experiences to staff and, as a result, we’ve been able to begin growing our internal capacity to engage in this type of experience with our users.
The idea behind Learning with The Labs is pretty simple: take an existing Labs workshop idea that could appeal to all age groups, advertise sessions in the weekly staff e-newsletter, pop up at different library locations around the system, and offer a one hour (9-10am, before the library opens) hands-on activity for staff.
The first series was Soldering 101 where staff learned how to handle a soldering iron and leaded solder by soldering to a PCB.
Next, we offered Portrait Photography where staff learned to use The Labs’ DSLR cameras as well as the principals of photography and basics of composition.
And now I’m planning a series of 3D Design and Printing workshops.
Sessions begin with a short presentation (like this Portrait Photography one) about The Labs program and the subject for the day’s training before transitioning to a hands-on activity for the remainder of the hour.
There are many benefits to Learning with The Labs professional development sessions:
- Staff gain new knowledge and skills using digital and traditional tools of “making”
- Staff learn more about The Labs (which had been confined to teen staff and administrators up to this point)
- By offering trainings at different locations the opportunity is available to branch staff who often don’t have the flexibility to travel for PD at other libraries
- Conversely, staff get to travel to other libraries they may have never visited before, allowing them to get to know the system better
- Sessions are great team-building exercises allowing staff to meet and mix from all over the system
So far, programming has been very successful. Staff have been eager to learn and delighted when they finish something or take a good photo (just like teens). For me, it’s been wonderful to see staff from lots of different branches and all levels of the organization take part. We have branch managers working alongside clerks and children’s librarians. It’s great.
Most importantly, Learning with The Labs is helping extricate The Labs from the teen silo it originally formed under, and it’s serving a need we recognized from the start. Programming like this doesn’t have the impact it could with teenagers and other users unless it’s visible, and that means staff from all over the organization need to understand why we do it.
What better way to explain why than through showing them?
Want More?
- Check out all the posts in our ongoing series on The Labs, starting in 2012, when the initiative was still in early planning!
- Connect with The Labs @ CLP crew online, on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
- Download the Film Lighting comic kit from The Labs @ CLP!
Corey Wittig is Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Digital Learning Librarian and program manager for The Labs @ CLP—the library’s teen digital media lab initiative. Corey has worked at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh since graduating from The University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature in 2006. He spent four years in the innovative Teen Department at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Main (Oakland) before graduating from Pitt’s School of Information Science with a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science. Since then, he’s worked on designing and implementing The Labs, a system-wide network of four digital media labs, housed within four CLP locations and strategically located around the city of Pittsburgh. For his work designing The Labs, Corey was named an innovator and Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2012.
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