 Great. Good morning and welcome to this week's edition of Encompass Live. I'm your host over here in the corner. I'm Krista Porter here at the Nebraska Library Commission. Encompass Live is the Commission's weekly webinar series where we cover a variety of topics that may be of interest to libraries. We broadcast the show live every Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. Central Time, but if you're unable to join us on Wednesdays, that's fine. We record the show and post it to our website in our archives, and I'll show you the end of today's show where you can see all of our archives. Both the live show and the archives are free and open to anyone to watch, so definitely share with your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, anybody you think might be interested in any of our topics on the show. We do a mixture of things here on Encompass Live, book reviews, interviews, mini-training sessions, demos of services and products, basically anything that we think may be of interest to libraries. And as the Nebraska Library Commission, we have state agencies for all libraries in the state, and so there are many things for all types of libraries, public, academic, K-12, museums, correctional facilities, we've had it all on the show. We do have a Nebraska Library Commission staff that do presentations, things are specific to Nebraska. We also bring guest speakers to do all sorts of things, and we make sure that action is here today. And I think that today we're going to be talking about, as you can see on the screen, Library Innovation Studios, the Commission's currently running grant program about maker spaces. That's a short version. We'll get on to a lot of details. I'll just hand over to you guys to introduce who all is here today. Thank you so much, Chris. My name here is Mary Jo Ryan, the Communications Coordinator here at the Nebraska Library Commission, which is going to start us off. Yeah, thanks for this. Chris is our engineer and extraordinaire. I'm Mary Jo Ryan. I'm here at the Library Commission. I'm the Communications Coordinator and Joanne McManus. I'm the Project Manager for the Library Innovation Studio, and also the Nebraska Library Commission. I'm Heather St. Clair, and I'm the Director of the Ashland Public Library, and we finished hosting the Innovation Studios just this last April. I'm Max Wheeler. I'm with the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska Innovation Studio. And the instructional designer hired specifically on for this grant. And Audrey, where are you? I'm Audrey Heil, and I'm from Loop City Public Library, and we just finished our hosting cycle also. And we also have Connie Hancock, who will be joining us on a little bit, and she's with Nebraska Extension. So let's get started, right? Partners. Yes, and first of all, even though we are talking about a grant project that the rest of the Library Commission got, of course, shares in partnership with a lot of partners, even if you're not part of this project, we will have a lot of information about makerspaces and libraries and what they can do. And so, of course, we have a lot of resources that we also share with other libraries. So either way, hopefully this is a good session for everybody. But I do want to mention the Institute of Museum and Library Services. That's who we got our grant from. And, of course, Nebraska Extension, University of Nebraska, Nebraska Innovation Studio, and Nebraska Library Commission. And the regional systems are all matching that grant with a lot of time and effort. We put in a lot of time on this. Okay, so today's agenda, we have a brandy talking about the project overview, the application process. Because we do, we'll be getting more public libraries in Nebraska involved in the project. Oh, Connie is going to be talking to us about community engagement process and multiple teams. Matt will say a little talk about the equipment in the studios and how all that works as far as training. Both Audrey and Heather will be sharing their local library experiences. And then Meg will be telling us about online resources. And we'll have time at the end for questions. And it might take a little longer than I always think it might. But we'll try to stay as close to an hour as we can. But just to reiterate what Chris has said earlier, if you have questions as we're going along, don't wait for the question and answer period. Go ahead and type in the chat box, either type your question or type that you want to be unmuted so you can ask your question over your microphone. Because we don't necessarily want to wait until then, but we will have that time again. Right? Yes. Whoops. Okay, thank you. Okay. Okay, the library innovation studios project interview, our project overview. Joanne kind of comes by surprise there. I thought we were just going to be chatting for a while, but I got a page. As you mentioned, Joanne, we have a national leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, Library Services. And basically this grant is to create these temporary major spaces that are hosted by public libraries, supporting community engagement, supporting participatory learning experiences, and providing access to really advanced technological and innovative learning tools that wouldn't necessarily be available locally to the library or to the general public and the community in place. Three, your project will be working on this till summer of 2020, and there'll be 30 of these makers spaces over that period of time. And one of the things that we think is a big feature of this is it allows the community to try it before you buy it. And that means that you get a chance to see what it's like to have this kind of a resource in the community and see what kind of an educational experience it provides for the community. And what kind of benefits. And not only try it before you buy it, because obviously if you're looking to buy a 3D printer or a laser cutter, it might be kind of nice to try one out and see if, you know, that's robust enough for you if you want something better. But also I think it allows your community to see, wow, this is what we want. Whereas when you're just talking about a makerspace, sometimes you just don't get it until you visualize it, see it in action. Absolutely. Absolutely. And how can actually benefit a community. You might see it and then you think, well, what good is this? And then all of a sudden you see how a small business gets a real boost from being able to have these kinds of resources. So really, we think it's a great tool for community development. And three goals guide the library innovation studios makerspace project. One is that rural community residents are empowered with tools and guidance to explore, collaborate, create, learn, invent, and grow together. And then the other is that libraries along with local partners can transform rural communities through participatory learning spaces. Also establishing the library as a community catalyst. That's real important to us in the library commission is we see the library's role as very strong in the area of helping the community grow and change. And so we think this is one of the ways that this can happen. And then this might not be as important to all of you as it is to perhaps our funder. But our funding agency really did think it was important that libraries and communities nationwide learn from what you do here in Nebraska. So rural communities all over the country will be looking at this as a possible record model. And later in June, we're actually going to be present at the nation makers makerspace in the Washington DC. And so we're already starting to share what we've been doing in Nebraska. Yeah, and we think there's a lot of other rural libraries that are going to hop on the same link and look to their community extension and their universities for support. This kind of network of resources for their communities. So what we see is that we're going to establish community action teams in 30 rural and small communities. We hope to we have already purchased the equipment and components for four rotating studios. Now we hope to deploy all of those. We're going to develop and have begun developing instructional materials and the certification process. Certification process is separate from library and certification. This is certification for your library customers so that when they come in, they get certified on machine. And they're able to say whenever they go to any library makerspace in Nebraska, they can say, look me up. I know how to use that. So I'm sure they don't have to be trained every time that we're going to employ sustainability strategies to hopefully see new permanent innovation studios all across the state as a result of this. And provide equipment training that I mentioned focusing on training the trainer strategies. And that basically is a group training here in Lincoln at the Nebraska Innovation Studio prior to each cycle and then local training the training sessions that are held in the library prior to each set up. Right. And that's we'll talk a little bit about that later. Yeah. Okay, so we're going to assist with local marketing and programming and event planning for your 19 to 20 week hosting period. And that varies a little bit doesn't join it just depends on when we can get out there and when the training is convenient for you. And if there's a holiday weekend messes things up so we just try to work. Join has to be the master of the flexibility and rearrange things to work around those hosting periods, but we try and make it as convenient as possible for you and your local community and your trainers. And then we have programming and focused areas that we try to encourage such as as I mentioned that the embroidery social sewing machine. Say you have a group in your community you would invite them in to do some special programming maybe they get interested some of them would want to be trainers. That's the kind of thing we try to do is encourage local people who have that kind of an interest to come in and work with the equipment. As well as just anybody any local library customer that comes in schedule trainings obviously that's something the libraries do they schedule trainings all the way through the hosting cycle. Some of them wait a few weeks until the library staff and volunteers are really comfortable with the equipment, open houses, and then local maker showcases. And then each year we're going to have an annual adventure showcase this year we're going to be at the Nebraska State Fair right. Yes, we are. We're not sure which day. Actually, we're thinking of Sunday, August 26. Sunday, August 26 sounds like a great day to be at the State Fair. What do you think? Yep. But definitely watch our website because that's that's that's the date that Brad and I are talking about. Okay, we'll see. And that's always a challenge. I don't know if any of you have ever worked at the State Fair as opposed to going to it, but it is a long day. You need a lot of people to work that. Do you want to talk about that application process by getting that slide? I sure do. Now, we've already selected 17 libraries. We will be selecting our final 13 libraries this summer. The application deadline is July 20. So that is that's a little less than two months away. So definitely if you're interested in applying, definitely start working toward that. The application and the answers to questions is on our website. So you can download that. If you have any questions at all, give us a call. There's so much information on the website. So and we'll go to the website in a little bit how to just show you so you walk through a little bit so you can see where stuff is. We'll be talking more about the website. Okay, so which libraries are eligible? We really did write this grant IMLS to talk about small and rural libraries, but as when you look at that nationwide, they really look at small libraries as anything less than 25,000. So really every public library who's accredited in Nebraska is eligible other than our six largest cities. So that pretty much opens up nearly all the communities. We that the studio does have to be housed within the public library and certainly in communities. There are plenty of other wonderful spaces for makerspaces. But because we got this grant through IMLS and we said it's going to be a public library. That's really where it needs to be. However, when you're looking at sustaining it in your community. It might be that your community college or some other place in your community might be a good spot for that as well. You do must have adequate space to available for those six permanent stations to remain installed throughout the hosting period. If you are short on space out of the 13 libraries, we will be selecting two libraries that will be sharing equipment. And we call those mini studios. And so essentially if you don't have quite enough room for the whole studio will bring in half the studio and first 10 weeks and then swap it with the other mini studio library. And then you'll host the other half of the equipment. So a little tight on space. That's how we'll handle that. And we'll be talking to Audrey who did a little bit later who had a mini studio. Audrey was in the city with a mini studio and so she can address how that works in their community. And definitely read if you're thinking about applying definitely read the question answers to questions document online because that asks a lot of questions and answers those questions. So it gives you a little bit feel about the commitment and how everything really works. Okay, so there are definitely benefits to participation. You'll have had access to engagement training tools templates and support support and Connie will talk a little bit about that. You'll have the studio components for 19 to 20 weeks. I already mentioned the tribe before you buy it. That's certainly a benefit to you. The community will see those benefits and go, hey, we can do this. And I think both Heather and Audrey will talk about maybe what they're thinking about as far as do they want some of the secret in the future that they have a taste for. We will have some travel support. So when your trainers need to come into LinkedIn for training or other events, we'll provide that for you. Obviously you have access to wonderful staff. Max and the others at the Rust Innovation Studio have a lot of experience on maker spaces and equipment. And they're great trainers. Absolutely. And we've gotten really good training. We have a good time, don't we, Heather? We have a good time at that time. And then of course we have, we also have great staff here who's a technology librarian that can help you as well. You'll have connections with the Rust Innovation Studio, maker space network, talking to other libraries who've done it. And at the end, since we're going to have four sets of equipment, the 30 libraries who participate will be eligible to receive one or more pieces of equipment. Hopefully we can keep those equipment up and running. Absolutely. It'll still be a pristine condition by then. Okay. And of course we do have some expectations of our participating libraries. We do need the libraries to organize a community action team and engage local organizations. Obviously when you get a grant, the one of the things that the others are always looking for, is there any sort of sustainability involved? And so even though a library couldn't go it alone and do wonderful work, if the community isn't back behind them and involved, is that library going to be able to come up with the funds and the staffing to support maker space? So especially this kind of a maker space project, because this one really hinges on the community engagement. I mean, you could put a maker space in a school, for example, and it might not ever really have a community involvement, but this kind of a maker space, we really feel like the community engagement is huge. You'll need to identify staff and recruit volunteers to attend the training trainer sessions, both in LinkedIn and then in your community. You will need, even though we'll be bringing in the equipment, you'll need to have the space, make sure you have sturdy tables, chairs, work space. It's not always space for the equipment, but you know, gathering space as well. So when people come in and start working, there's room for that. You'll need to do some marketing, and Mary Jo and Tessa will help you along the way with that. Obviously, you need to make the studio components available as a public on a regular basis. You just can't put them in here and have them open one hour a day. Train people, use certification database, maintain consumables that you bring in, showcase, you know, have the open house to showcase. So there is work involved, and maybe Heather and Audrey will say whether that was a big issue or just another day of y'all. Okay, when you go online and find our application, you'll see that the features of the application, obviously we're asking for basic contact information. There is an assurance checklist, because we want to be sure that you are committed to doing certain things, and we'll have a slide on that a little bit. There's 10 basic questions for you to answer, and we would like to also see sketches and diagrams and photos of the space that you plan on using for the studio station. So we can kind of be assured that you really do have space for it. And then we would like you to also attach those letters to support the commitment of local partners. That would be the school, the community college, local businesses, your extension educators, who else? Chamber of Commerce, who do you check to? Well, the local school district, Chamber of Commerce, of course the library, board and foundation, let's see who else is right now. So there's a couple other ones, I have to take a look at my application seat while I asked. And of course Connie is going to be talking about the community engagement. And Audrey, did you have any other groups that you reached out to that were particularly useful in getting you? We have an entrepreneur group here. It's not very big, but they just started and they were interested in it. And then we also had the Sherman County Economic Development Group. But the school played a huge part because we're a, you know, our county and school libraries are together, so they played a huge part. Great. And then we'll just, we won't go through this assurance list, but on the next slide. All right, Joe. Okay. So you'll see on the application that we actually asked you to check, yes, that you are willing to do all these things. And it's all things that we just went over, that you're going to have people be trainers, that you're going to have those tables and chairs, that you're going to be reaching out to the community. So that's just our way of kind of reminding everybody that applies, that this is kind of what's involved and what we expect. And then there is a most imperative priority form included, right? That's right. And this is not required that you fill this out, but it is highly recommended. And I will eventually ask you to fill it out. But people who fill it out and send it in right away with their application, you are just basically telling us of the hosting periods available, which ones you prefer. You can put them in order of your preference. So when we select those 13, we'll look at who's sending this hosting form. And we'll all say, we'll already say, okay, this community is ready to go for this time. It seems to work. And so we're going to slot them in. And so definitely fill that out if you can. And it's pretty straightforward what we need to do there. And then these are the hosting periods that are open. You see, the very first one that the new 13 communities could select is the one that starts February 11, 2019. So we're all filled up until then. We're all filled up until then. And then we go through the week of March 30th, 2020. And you'll notice that each are about 19 weeks long. Those are subject to a little bit of change just because when we actually get down to slide people in, we've changed slightly. That's what we're looking at right now. There are, we've already selected 17 libraries. Our first group included Loop City and Ashlyn, who's here today talking with us. So we already have been in five communities currently. If you want to get out and look at one of our hybrid innovation studios, head out to South Toon, Nealy, Broken Bone, Bridgeport. That's where those studios are now. And then you can see those other communities that will be in cycle three and four. And then the bus city chose a later cycle. And so, but we are really excited to choose another 1500 libraries. Can't wait to see who they're going to be. So this is a slide that kind of starts out a presentation from Kyle Hancock from the rescue extension. And are you there, Connie? I am. Good morning. I'll try to keep up with you with the slides. So how do the project goals overlap with our community goals? Well, they definitely, am I getting an echo from you guys? It's not a tiny bit. I don't know what we can do on that. Okay, well, definitely the project goals overlap with community goals as we think about attracting and retaining young people, providing opportunities for our youth in a variety of ways to create and innovate and be entrepreneurs in our communities. So that they learn how to invent something or innovate something with the idea that potentially they can have us create their own startup. And so as you look at the project goals, we're empowering people to learn how to collaborate and network and learn from each other. That's really the cool thing about the makerspaces. How would you do this? This is how I'm doing it kind of thing. The whole idea of entrepreneurship and business development. Think about economic development in a whole different way as we grow our own next generation of entrepreneurs and startups. And, you know, the Federal Reserve Board has said today that now is the time for people to start businesses. Everything is right in terms of the economics that are around us and the support that we have and the support for local. And so that's really a part of all of that. Makerspaces definitely provide us with lifelong learning and education. And that's what we want to continue to provide our clientele and our communities and the people that live, work and play in our communities. And then the whole initiative of STEAM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. So it's really thinking differently about how we do economic development, thinking about how we reach out to community folks and bring that knowledge to that space. And that really fits in with community goals as well. So, Connie, if you would talk a little bit, we've been talking, mentioning community engagement. But if you would talk a little bit more about what that means for libraries and the organizations that they partner with? Absolutely. You know, none of us can do this by ourselves. And so we all bring resources, we all bring expertise, we all bring talent to the table in the makerspace environment. And so working as a catalyst and having the library be that center point, we can get more people involved in projects. We can get more people working together on a variety of things. And we can utilize their talent so that they really feel good about themselves. So that's really that whole engagement piece is reaching out to people that have never been to the library maybe just because of, you know, of what they are and who they are. But now they've got a set of tools, a set of a space where they can really do some creative kinds of things. And so that's our job is to really help empower them to be more than who they are today. And it also helps build a sense of community because oftentimes the school system or extension or the library, we kind of end up in our own little silos thinking that we can do it all. When in fact, if we reach out and utilize those folks in a variety of ways, it just, it really just makes it way more than what we are today. And so that's part of that building of a sense of community and meeting people who are doing something different than we are. So you think about the kinds of skills that somebody else knows, and I may have wanted to do that at some point in time, but I don't want to drive 50 miles to a class. Well, there may be somebody in your community that can help teach that class or to help you develop that skill. And that's what that whole concept of learning from each other is where that fits in. Understanding the benefits of what a makerspace means to the community. We have created Sydney Create where it's our makerspace concept. We've been in the conversation for about three years until we got our grant to be able to actually create the physical space in the library. But the benefits are really starting to show. I mean, the youth are extremely excited about the use of the makerspace and we're utilizing the STEM kinds of activities to teach them about the science, technology, engineering. And we're utilizing adults who already have that knowledge base to be the trainers of that. And so we've now expanded our volunteer base for, I mean, we've trained about 25 people now from an adult perspective and a youth perspective to train others. And so that's really kind of a cool way, generational as well as economic development wise. And I think the real key to this community engagement is having a strong community action team. So if you look around your community and find the leaders who really get what a makerspace has to offer and the benefits that it has to offer people from the Chamber of Commerce, economic development. Of course, I'm going to promote extension because we have a variety of resources from the university as well as then the connection with Nebraska Innovation Studio. And I'm utilizing those guys all the time of it's not working quite right. Can you help me figure this or that out? So that's really a nice connection between the local extension educator and the resources that we have on campus. So think about who those action team people are. Marketing is another part of this whole engagement thing of getting the word out that this is what is available in your community. And this is what we have to offer during this timeframe. So think about how marketing and who has those skills of being able to market and articulate the message in a way that community folks really understand. And so it's then identifying that training team that goes along with that action. As I mentioned, we've got 25 people now who are trained and people are coming in and out of the library that had never been in the library before. So it's really the library staff in Sydney is really excited about the new faces and the connections that they're making and just seeing the kinds of work that people are creating. It's been really a fun project as well as utilizing the talents that we have locally. And then you also do a local training team that gets developed as well to which may or may not be the same people as that are on your community action team, right? That's absolutely right. And we've had a couple of actual meetups. And so we're in the mindset of now we do a Tinker Tuesday. And so every Tuesday afternoon from three to five, we're just we have a little bit of an activity going on. But if people just want to come and tinker, that's kind of where we're at. So here is again the list of the action team folks, which is different than the trainers, because you need that core group of people to say, OK, this isn't really working. We need to maybe change some of the guidelines. You know, that was what our action team identified was how much are we going to charge. And I know that's not what you guys need within this particular grant. But if you're going to make this sustainable in the long run, after you've had the rotating maker space, you're going to need to learn about or think about what this looks like. And you know, what about the youth that they need to be supervised and how much time are we going to allow people to spend at that, et cetera, et cetera. So just a framework of some guidelines of the use of the space. So again, here is that list of community action people. They need to have a kind of, it's kind of like a board, but we haven't gone that deep into saying we need to buy laws and all that stuff. We have utilized the agreement piece that the Library Commission recommends of, you know, getting hurt and this kind of thing. But it's people that are willing to spend some time and energy strategically thinking about creating an implementation plan and what that longer term piece means for your community. It may mean some fundraising. It may mean collaborating with other stakeholders in your community to get that done. Recruiting others and their organizations and continually talking about the maker space as a whole new concept for the community. It's a much bigger thing than who we are today. And then again, finding those resources, whether they're financial, human ideas, it doesn't matter. But really trying to empower people in a new kind of way to do some things that are very unique. And it's just an exciting time for those libraries and those communities that are hosting the mobile maker space. So these were some action steps that we initially identified. A volunteer coordinator getting people involved in the conversations, keeping people engaged. As I mentioned, the role of marketing is really key so that you don't, you spread the word in a variety of ways. Maintaining the momentum, whether that's scheduling some tinker time or some meetups where people can say, I've been using the vinyl cutter and this isn't working, this isn't working, but this is working for me. How do you do this? How do you do that? So meetups are another way that the action team can be involved. And then celebrating your success with some sort of a local maker showcase or an inventors fair, something like that. So those are all pieces of what the action team can be involved with. Well, thank you, Connie. I know you have to get back to another event or activity, but I would like to just open the floor for questions for Connie. This would be the time if you could, if you want to catch her and ask her any questions about how to reach out to your local extension agent or extension educator, or any other kind of thing about what's happening at Sydney Creates, which is their local maker space project with the library. And Connie, you might also want to mention how extension educators in Nebraska are, you know, ready to assist when libraries get there in this maker space. Absolutely. You know, with the Nebraska 4-H program, many of our youth educators are already doing STEM kinds of activities. So the maker space just allows us a little bit more advanced tools that we can get the youth trained in and then train adults as 4-H leaders as well. So definitely the extension folks are getting much more aware of what the maker space has to offer to them as they provide educational opportunities for the youth and adults in their communities. And I think the first round of libraries, everybody was a little bit, I'm already booked, you know, I've got my programming out there. But now we're starting to have those conversations with our educators that are saying, oh, this is really kind of cool. We can do this and this and this. And the more that we network with each other across the state, the more powerful that makes the, not only the educational programming and opportunities, but then what we can offer to the libraries and the library staff. And also the extension educators have an initiative which relates to community engagement, right? Yes, yes. We've got both the community engagement piece as well as, you know, the youth education piece. So there's a double whammy there, Mary Jo, that we're definitely involved with. And if you have questions or if your educator is not real sure about this, I would be glad to visit with them. Joanne and Mary Jo, all the library commission has my contact information. And I'd be glad to visit with you as a library director or staff person as well as the local extension educator, because it is kind of a new concept for us, although the word is getting out more and more about what this has to offer. We visited last week, Brad Barker and I, with several libraries that are getting the makerspace now. And one of the gals from the very first cycle said, I want it back. I now know what it has to offer to me as an educator. And can I get it back someday? And so it's one of those things that once you're involved with it and get your hands on it, it's like, wow, this is really cool stuff. Thank you, Connie. Actually, we do have a question on Audrey, go ahead and ask your question, since you're there and I've gotten muted now. We actually had, I had some questions about how you communicated to the community what you have, what it could do. We used our local paper, the Facebook page posters around town. We talked to community groups. We put up posters in school and I sent emails to teachers and I still had people at the end of the hosting period say, I didn't know you had that. I didn't know what that could do. What worked for you to communicate to people? Well, it's just, it's, you know, I think Audrey word of mouth is probably the best of all of it. We did the same things that you did, newspaper, Facebook. We actually did a teacher in service. The principal of the high school brought all 200 teachers into the makerspace at the beginning of the school year. And so that really helped the teachers think about some opportunities that they might do with their youth during the school year. You know, you're fortunate that you were right there in the school, but, you know, I don't know how. I think the more one of the lessons that I learned early on was seven times in seven different ways. So take those seven different ways and get the message out seven different times. Marketing is a hard one in today's world with there's so much mass stuff that's coming at us every day. So I think he did the right things. And there's always going to be somebody that says, huh, my head was in a sand. Where was I at? Well, I think the key thing when you say, Connie is that you've been at this for three years in your community, building your community team. And your community team has been communicating and learning and trying things out for three years. Yeah. So that's a one of the things that we are doing is capturing. Everybody that comes through the makerspace, we're capturing their email contact information. And I'm putting together a newsletter. I'm trying to get it so that it goes out monthly. So we know we just share here are some training dates. Here is the member of the month kind of a thing that if there's somebody that has really done some cool stuff, created some cool stuff. We do a member spotlight. And then just bits of information about makerspaces. So we've been using MailChimp. It's a free, you know, email mass marketing tool. And we're just gradually building that up. I think we have 50 or 60 names on it now, but that will over time will hopefully be more than, you know, 500 names, even just locally. So it's just one of those things that you got to keep working at it. And I do think word of mouth is probably the best. Thank you. Thank you, Connie. We just wanted to mention, are there any other questions first? No, not at the moment. If you do have any other questions, use the question section of your go-to-webinar interface type in there. And I'm not a great all right. We just wanted to mention that we do have some resources on our community engagement section. Our website. And you can see we've got this welcome webinar or a welcome webinar. It's similar to this. We've got templates for helping you build your teams and planning events. We have a timeline that helps keep us all sort of in the same page and a general information PowerPoint. And later at the very end of this session, we're going to go to that website and just point some things out for you so you can see where things are. And then of course you can go back to the website anytime you want. And just find whatever you're looking for that might help you. Thank you, Connie, for joining us. I know you're in the middle of something else, but we really appreciate that. Thank you very much. And again, reach out to the library commission. If you have questions for me, I'll be glad to help you out. Thank you. Thanks, Connie. I'm going to turn things over to Max Wheeler. He'll talk a little bit about what kind of equipment is in studios and a little bit more about training. So we've been talking a lot about the details of how the program works, how you can apply everything, but what all does it actually include? So what machines, what equipment, and we've got a total of 15 different stations. Six of them we have that are, we consider more permanent. They're set up and people go to them. We also have nine mobile stations that are a little more transportable. They're a little lighter. So those are easier for people to pick up and move wherever they happen to be working. Our first section is the digital fabrication. I call these the big four because aside from being really versatile, they're also the biggest. They tend to be pretty big and heavy. Going from the left there over to the right, we have our 3D printer, which creates objects out of plastic. You see them making everything from cute little things that you put on your desk to functional prototypes of new products, new designs, new parts. Which is for things that break. There you go. To the right of that is our CNC router. It's capable of cutting through about an inch of wood, creating two-dimensional, three-dimensional designs. We see a lot of people making signs, decorations on that one. The upper right is probably, I would say, the most popular piece of equipment with this grant. It's our desktop laser. It's capable of cutting about one quarter inch of wood. It etches glass. It can work a whole variety of materials. We see a bunch of people making signs, decorations, gifts, anything you can imagine on this. One really neat thing we've seen people do is cut fabric on this. We'll have quilters that will come in, and they're used to cutting designs by hand, which takes a really long time. You can do it in no time at all on this laser. It can get accurate, perfect results every single time. We also have our graph tech 60 inch wide, or sorry, not 60, it's a 24 inch wide vinyl cutter. This is really good for making signs, decorations, wall hangings, wall art, things of that nature. With all of these and all of the equipment that we have later on, you do also have software for each of them. We teach you how to use the software, get you up and running on it, and then also provide you with a lot of resources online for if I have a question on this, how do I master this software, that sort of stuff. Next section is the electronics. We have everything from Lego Mindstorms, which is a little more blocky, plug this into that, all the way up to our Arduino and SparkFun kits, which are, at their core, microelectronics. For people that are really interested in learning microelectronics, this is a really good way to get started. It comes with everything that you need to create some simple circuits, all the way up to some pretty advanced things, trying them out, learning all things of that nature. We also have a making-making, which is a really fun little toy. You use it for creating a custom interface for your computer. Basically, think about it as a keyboard without the keys, and you make the keys yourself. Instead of clicking a mouse, you have a banana that whenever you touch it, it clicks on the computer mouse. You can set up a whole wide array of things and create a really custom interface that could be really fun. On the next slide, we've got our textiles. The big one here is the embroidery sewing machine. It is a fully capable sewing machine. It also has an embroidery machine that is, I want to say, around five inches by six inches. It comes preloaded with a bunch of designs. You also have a bunch of designs on the computers that we've got bought separately for that product, that device. Really, really great stuff. We've seen some awesome things made on this. Actually, I think over in Ashland, we had some people making teddy bears that were embroidered before they were all sewn together. So they had some really neat designs on them. And heat press is really useful. I think that the sewing machine, it was these sewing machines, all four of them were donated by one of our very special Bernina donors. It's the quality sewing back of Brandiola. Those are fantastic machines. The heat press that we have is good for making designs on shirts, fabric, anything else that you'd like. The printers that we have there, depending on the material, may need a certain kind of ink. So those two printers cover a very wide array of different kinds of materials that you can then heat press your design on to at the next step. Our digital media creation includes a Canon E05, a really good, really capable camera. It comes with a bunch of different lenses, a bunch of different accessories for that camera, tripod, carrying case. We also have a green screen as well as the software to remove that green screen digitally and insert whatever you'd like to in the background. A whole bunch of stuff that we have there. We have a music and recording kit that includes a fully programmable mini controller, as well as all of the stuff that you would need to bring whatever you're working with into a computer. We also have the software Audacity and Reaper that allows you to modify, play with, adjust the levels, and fully record and fully adjust what you need. We've seen a lot of people use this also for podcasting. So not just for music, but also for voice recordings. We also have kind of a swath of other devices here. The laminator has been a really popular piece of equipment. We've seen a couple of places actually purchase that specific laminator because they liked it so much. We have a button maker along with some of the die cuts that make that a little bit easier. We have a blue gun, we have pearl draw, we have a couple other odds and ends here. So really a whole wide array of things covering all sorts of different topics and interests. The six permanent stations that we talked about before are all listed here along with the floor space that they take up. If you're trying to plan where you want to put all these things, this is going to be really helpful for you. As far as laying all that out. We have seen some maker spaces where they were all in one room. National, for example, had one space where everything was all really easy to locate. We've also seen other libraries where they were spread out. This section maybe had the laser. This section had the final cutter and router. And we made use of the space that was available. But as you're planning, keep that in mind that this is going to be really helpful for you. We've also alluded to the train the trainers and the local train that we have to give you a brief overview of that. Basically, the train the trainers is the very first event where people from your community that you've identified as potential trainers library staff. They'll come to Lincoln and we will train on every single piece of equipment. That's not to say that every person trains on every piece, but someone from your library should be trained on each of the things by the end of it. After that time, we will go and take down the equipment from a previous site and install it at your site. We'll stay there for two to three days, install, teach you how to use the equipment, teach you how to do some maintenance on the equipment, and make sure that you're comfortable before we actually leave town. After that time, and we've talked about a little bit after that time, we are still available. Technically online phone, email for support as questions come up as things arise because we know that they do arise stuff happens. And so, you know, we may only be there in person for two or three days, but we're definitely there electronically all the time. We do have SOPs, standard operating procedures that we include for all of our equipment to teach you how to run it, give you a brief update in an overview. Maybe you forgot how to do this specific process on this machine. That's a good way to get a speed on that. We also have training videos for our big four. We're always explaining that and adding more. They give you a brief overview of what this machine is capable of and how to kind of roughly run it, how to get some decent results. We use those as kind of homework. So when people are, you know, they're going to take a training in a week here. I'd ask them to watch this video to get a brief overview of how that machine works before they actually sit down and participate in it. And so again, we have some more opportunities for learning after we're gone. We have the scheduled trainings that the library is actually responsible for setting up, scheduling, deciding who's going to be teaching them, when they'll be teaching them. Opportunities for people to become certified on it. And we do really like to push the interest groups. Also, you know, the kind of local things that may already be there. There's already a culture group that's there. Go ahead and bring them in, show them how to use the laser, show them how to get their designs digitized and be able to be produced on there. And, you know, we've got all sorts of other things that we have seen work well and we can provide some guidance and some help on there. So with that, I'll go ahead and turn it over to Heather and talk about her experiences with the first cycle. Thanks, Max. Yeah, it was a really exciting couple of few months. We got the equipment and when we finally got it, we did take a week and a half to get our trainers comfortable with the machines to the point to where they could train people. That was a big thing. For a long time, I was the only one who was comfortable training on the embroidery machine. But we didn't have anybody who trained everybody on everything. We had groups of people who would train on different groups of equipment. And then we did have some overlap too, depending on what they wanted to do. We did have one volunteer that we had who was part of our, he's the president of our foundation. And he just loved the equipment and he learned pretty much every piece of it. You can actually see him. He's the guy working on the sewing machine. Yeah. We made him. He came to the economy too, right? I don't know if he would. Maybe not. Maybe we had him at the animation studio. But he learned a lot of the equipment so well that he could do things that he would then train other people on. He was able to print something out with the heat press printers on the designs for those and then get the vinyl cutter to cut it out before he pressed it onto a t-shirt. He created a three-dimensional replica of the cover art where the sidewalk ends, by Shel Silverstein out of a 3D printed kids and the cliff that they're on and attached it to a laser cut and laser etched background that had all the signs and then vinyl cut where the sidewalk ends. And then if so, it's a fantastic piece. He was really cool. He was really good at using art. He brings that to this day fairing and banners fair. We want to see it. And I like that he mixed the natural pieces of equipment because that was one final thing. It's not just use one thing. It's a one, yeah. Yeah, it makes it well. And the bears that Max was talking about earlier. The fabric was cut on the laser cutter and then embroidered on the embroidery machine and then sewn together with it. And then it had a bow that was a polyester white ribbon that had been heat pressed with a design on it using the sublimation printer. So we had people, you know, we just made one thing with one piece of equipment and we have people who make things with multiple pieces of equipment. So it was a lot of fun to see what people created. And I think one of the biggest hurdles we had initially was, you know, what do I use this for? What do I do with this equipment? So it was nice to also take that week and a half to to practice some of ourselves. But we also created things that we can then show people and say, look, this is this is some of the stuff that you can make. And we had people come in and just to make things that we didn't even we didn't even imagine because we would post the pictures on Facebook and people would go, oh, you have this thing. We also did get a big rush at the end to people who are like, well, I need to learn everything. And I didn't, you know, we didn't have enough time. And so, yeah, I think everybody will get that big brush at the end. So does that big rush at the end? Does that give any kind of momentum towards getting something started right there in your community? Yes, I think I think it really did. We got people involved in the community action team that weren't in the original team because they had, they had learned about the maker space while it was there and the rush at the end. People are like, you know, I didn't finish my projects. You guys need to, you need to get something in so I can keep doing all the things that I wanted to do. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, and I think depending on which community you have the pieces of equipment that you have that are the most popular will vary. So it seems pretty, pretty ubiquitous that the laser cutter is the most popular. And I think it's because it can cut an edge or variety of materials that, you know, but this is the other things can't can't do. And both do, you know, a design that you can then build something with, but then it can also decorate that as well. And we've also seen it's because, you know, it's really easy to go from not really knowing anything to producing really high quality result. I mean, we've had people that had never really touched design software at all and were able to make some really high quality stuff. Yeah, and take it home with you today. Yeah. Well, and you can see the efficacy for like a small business production. Wow. An entrepreneur that wants to make salsa instead of just putting it in plain jars and put in an edge jars. I mean, there's a lot that can happen. Yeah, our local quilters group came in and they learned how to use the laser cutter, but they actually use our button maker a lot to create promotional materials. To hand out to people and we had some sports teams come in and had jerseys made. They use the vinyl cutter to put numbers on helmets because that's just a lot of stuff. We don't we don't have those businesses in town that do that. So they usually have to go out of town to do that. So that was nice too. And it gives the opportunity for somebody to to also start that business up. But if there is something that's lacking. We have jerseys. Yeah. Yeah. So does anybody out there have any questions for Heather? I know we're running very close or at our end of our time. And I'm hoping you'll stick with us for just a few more minutes so we can talk to Audrey and also do just a few things at the end with the website. Yeah. Well, it is 11 of two from my computer here. We officially show go from 10 to 11 but we'll keep going until we're through with everyone who's talking all our slides any questions anybody has. It's all being recorded. So if you're in it, let's stick around with us because you only gave yourself an hour to watch the show live. That's fine. We'll watch recording later and see everything. But we'll keep going until we're done. Heather, do you have anything else you wanted to add or make sure that people know about that you were your experienced. Oh, there's so much. It's hard to pick things. It's usually just the, I find it the easiest to answer these questions. Okay, that's your challenge out there. Ask for some questions. Just check type in the chat box or ask Chris to unmute you. And in the meantime, we'll go on to Audrey. If we could please are you there? Yes, I am. I would like to thank you guys for the experience of having the library innovation studio. It was wonderful. We also noticed that our community members did not really realize what a maker space entailed, or what they would be able to use the equipment for until they had the opportunity to actually have hands on experience with it. So we had done some like Monday evening trainings and Kayla Hendricks our extension agent came and did some maker madness evenings and lunch programs. And that helped a lot. We were surprised. We had people from other towns and counties come and use the equipment who hadn't been in the library before, who are now pretty consistent patrons. So that was a good outcome. And we actually did the mini studio, which allowed us to keep the sound and the green screen equipment up, and that allowed the classes, the teachers to bring in their classes or send in their students to do different projects without us having to Excuse me, without us having to take everything down and take a lot of time to put it back up. And so they felt like they could come in and use it at any time and and they actually made a Sherman County promotional video and did a bunch of class work. The teachers, Mrs. Cremosta was amazing, and had brought her older kids in, but also the school library and Mrs. Francisco had brought her she was in charge of the afterschool program and so she brought her little kids in and they were able to make buttons and, and do laminated bookmarks and things that they thought, you know, that was really cool because they were little but they could do these things that they could then take their to their parents and show them. We, I would like to stress, there was a lot of time spent so Jana or it gal at the school came in early in the mornings and helped kids start projects. We had some really wonderful volunteers who came in to be there for the classes. And it was a big time commitment. The last of the first, especially the first cycle, the last week was, there were a lot of 10 o'clock nights because you know, everyone wanted their project done before they before the equipment left. And we had some ladies who thought they were going to go into morning because that equipment left they had such a good time with it. So did you have the same experience that Heather talked about with maybe people thinking that the library needs to purchase that equipment now. We actually, we had. We have a wonderful school superintendent, Mr. Dahlberg and Janet kushak by T gal and then a couple people on the school board who, and the teachers who used it who really said, you know, is not only important for the school it's important for the community to have this we've had a lot of community support. So they are actually purchasing the same 3d printer. And the next size bigger on the laser the 24 inch I think it is with the photo. They have like a photo software stuff. And they're planning on purchasing that with some community support and it will probably be in the library we're not sure if it'll be just in the back or if it'll be in that room where we had it set up but that's. They've already said they were purchasing that and I think the pto is planning on purchasing the button maker. And the historical society has talked about purchasing the sound equipment so that they could do some family heritage stuff. Is that a great idea. And it, and Audrey tell us about how all those students wrote letters for the. Yes, I'm missus commersa's class. She really pushed her students and encouraged them to, you know, think of different things and not just, you know what they could find on Pinterest but make it their own. And they loved it, and they did a fantastic job and they told her that her class was their favorite and they were already signing up for next year. And wait to see what she was going to do and she's like, but we won't have this equipment next year. So fortunately they will have some of that equipment now. And, and the students were so excited about it that they actually wrote letters. That we shared with the school board and. And with the community and with the pto. And I think a few of them have actually even written letters to the editor of the local paper, which I haven't seen it show up in the paper yet, but I'm guessing it will hear shortly. So they were very good people to do the word of mouth as Connie was saying, you know, they, they were excellent at, at communicating it with their not only their peers but with the community at large and it means more to the community when the kids actually say, you know, I can say, I think it's important, but for the kids to say, you know, this made a difference and this is what I could do with this in the future. That was huge. So am I. Yeah, anybody else out there have any questions for Audrey or forever. Just go ahead and type in the question section you want to know any more about what they did or the questions but anything to see on the pictures. And also, are you do you have anything else you wanted to share I appreciated your comments about how it takes volunteers and it takes time and people have to go the extra mile. So I think I think that's a good thing for folks to know. And our community had to be a little patient because I'm, I'm just a part time librarian and so sometimes I would be, you know, back in the room doing that stuff and they'd have to come say okay I'm ready to check out. But So that's great you get that kind of support people will know that what you're doing. We're excited enough about it that they, they took it in strides so just great. Anything else either either or Heather has to add about the experience. One thing that the Audrey said reminded me of an experience that we had in our major space, which was She worked a lot with the kids and we actually had a we normally have an after school group on Thursdays that come over and we do activities with them and we incorporated the makerspace into that. And they would come and they would make buttons and they get to pick out keep press designs and they would get to design things and then we'd make it for them. And that was that was the third to fifth grade range. And they would actually go back to their parents and say we need to go back because you know what I can make I can make this and I need you to come check it out. So we get a lot of we get a lot of adults in that way because the kids were so excited about it. And then we did partner with some school groups we had both groups from our local school district and then the Waverly school district bring their steam groups up actually one of them was actually an art group. And the other one was it was a steam group and got to work with the makerspace equipment you create things and so yeah I really recommend if you're able to try to partner with with the schools and if you're not as lucky to be in the school try to definitely get them get them down. So yeah that's a good point even though Audrey's right in the school with public libraries right in the school you can even though you're not you can still partner with the schools. And I know Max that's something that the library and not the library the University Innovation Studio has found is that the art people are very interested in how this equipment can advance the art work that they're doing. So that's another avenue for partnership. And one thing that we didn't mention about this project that people might want to know is that the Nebraska Library Commission does purchase and bring into the libraries are consumables patrons can also buy and bring in their own consumables to make things out. We have the 3D filament and the vinyl and wood and I don't know if you guys want to comment on how that worked I know it was probably a little hard to you know to store that stuff and sell that stuff. But but yet as soon as somebody came in they wanted to make there was they could. Yeah I think that the trickiest part about the consumables is is we would have people come in and make like one or two items and then we have somebody come in and then make like 20 items and then like oh no do we have enough for somebody else is going to come in and do 20 items so that was the tricky part was actually planning for how much how much of the materials that we would need because we would have somebody come in and we get a brand new role of vinyl and then somebody would come in and and use almost all of it and like have to hop on the phone and be like I mean somewhere vinyl somebody just did a 20 foot project. So and we did have a lot of people who would bring in their own stuff too especially for the laser cutter. So that was it was nice to have the wood on hand because then they didn't have to go get it by large pieces and then cut it down but a lot of people bring in their own paper and acrylic some we had a couple of metal objects that were etched that people would bring in so so yeah it was it was a little it was kind of a mixed bag of what people were using and what they were bringing and so we were lucky enough to have some storage space in that room that needed easy and one of our volunteers brought in a cart on wheels that we were able to store most of the consumables on so that was helpful. Yeah and our in the first cycle we didn't have it available but in the second cycle and then of course in our future cycles the Cornhouse per State Industries did make some cabinets that they have on loan to us and so but that really helps to store a lot of the consumables. So we were officially at 15 minutes over our time and we hope you'll just stick with us a little tiny bit longer while we talk a little bit about the resources that are online. Let me see if I can go. Okay, oh no website. Okay, this is an Nebraska Library Commission website, most of you NLC dot Nebraska dot go. If you can't remember where to look, you just go in here and type innovation. And then you go to it. You can also type in makerspaces and still find it. Yeah, or you can go over here to grants and find it that way so there's way different ways to find it but there's a big reminder right on top the final application deadline is July 20. And then if you go down here into this green box what you see are some of the categories of information. And we spoke about. Well obviously there's a project summary. Just a variety of materials that that you might want but here is where you might find the information that will help you when you're going into application. You can see there's a Word document and a PDF. And then we have recorded webinars, we have training videos, everything that's talked about. You can see we have the equipment components. You want to see more about this Burnett embroidery machine. You can see more about products that it makes. We've got a little video about it. So we've tried to put as much on this website as you possibly would need. And we're at it all the time because we keep finding more things. Equipment instructions are here. The space needs chart that Matt talked about is here. We have a communications kit, which is basically all you need to have for a media kit. It's all online here. You can click on Word documents, PDFs, links to other areas. Obviously this is going to be of more interest to you once you get your grant. But this just gives you an idea of some of the kinds of things that we can help you with. But there is a big PowerPoint on there. So if you're starting to talk to local people about, you know, let's really go for this. You can go through, you can use that PowerPoint and kind of give them an overview of what the project is all about. I'm sorry. I went by it too fast. I tried to do this so fast because it makes people busy is toward the topic. I keep going more. There is general information PowerPoint. So that's for everyone to use. And like Joanne said, it will help you in your process of getting your partners lined up. What else did I miss here? Community engagement. Some of the things Connie talked about are on this page. The welcome webinar, the worksheets, the planning form and a little video on community engagement. What else did I miss you guys? Is there other stuff on this page that is useful? Well, these pages are good for not only understanding what it's about so you can envision what it's going to be like, but once you're actually a host library, for instance, we have the SOP standard operating procedures, the training videos on safety in a makerspace. Of course, even if you have a makerspace and aren't even involved in our project, these are still very helpful to you. And Max, I don't know if you want to mention anyone who has your brainchild there. Yeah, so these are the videos I was talking about. They're about three or four minutes. They give you an overview of what those big four machines look like, what they can do, and the general workflow for how you get them up and running. And when we would do the training, anytime we got somebody brand new in, we would actually just show them the safety video on the page rather than reinvent the wheel. Right. And we've got a new one we recorded yesterday. So I guess, let's just go back to our question and answers comments. I know we've kept people a little bit long, but we're happy to step with us. Oh, we want to be sure and point out that this is a partnership, which we've been talking about all this time that the library commission, UNL, the rest information studio, the rest extension regional library systems and you local public libraries. Let me depart by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Thank you very much for their support. Joanne, anything you want to say to the new group? No. Give us a call. If you have any questions or happy health, apply. It's easy. Yes. We need to respond to more libraries. Don't wait until the last minute because then when you look at those questions, it's going to say, have you given thought to who will be their trainers? Oh my goodness, I haven't. So read the application today and kind of decide what you need to do for doing now and July 20 to be ready to submit that application. And you can submit it as soon as you're done. You don't have to wait until 20. We're giving you a month and a half head start. I mean, right now to get all your ducks in the row figure out if you need to do those questions. And of course, we had our first application period about this time last year. So I knew my application was actually on the website for that whole time. I know we had more applications and we can take the first round. If people apply in the first round, do they need to do a new one this time? Yes, they do. You can switch anything up from the first year. The application is essentially the same. I do have a place that says if you want to be able to do it, definitely tell us that that's what you're interested in. But otherwise, it's pretty much the same application, but do submit a new one. Yes, submit a new one. We're not going to pull up your old one. And just think we have changed since you submitted that one as well in your situation and we've talked to. Right. And obviously it's a competitive process. We do read and look at everything that people answered. And if you didn't, if you applied last time and didn't get selected, maybe you need to consider how you answered those questions, what, you know, what we might have been looking for that we weren't saying. And call Joanne and ask her. Call Joanne and ask her what kinds of things you might be able to improve on if you did it last time and are planning to reapply. And I know we had some libraries that contacted us. I remember who said, I'm interested, but not right now, the first time. Right. Now's your chance. Hopefully you are. So thank you everyone and call Joanne for more information. And we're to find and go visit those library information studios. And you can talk to people like Heather and Audrey and others that have had the library information studio or those who have it right now. Thanks everyone. Thank you. That will wrap it up for today's show then get back out here to our website. It will be on. It has been recorded for today. So thank you everyone for helping. Thank you, Audrey and Connie who's left. She said she's on the video. Max and her. Julie and Mary Joe. Thank you for being on today's show. It is then recorded. It will be on our website. If you want to look for our Encompass Live website, you can actually just use your search engine of choice. And so far, Encompass Live, even Bing knows where we are, are the only thing that is called that out there on the internet. So you can. Sorry. This is our Encompass Live website. We have our upcoming shows, but our archives are all right here. All of our recordings today shall be at the top of our list here. This is last week's show. We'll have the recording. We'll have the slides up later this afternoon, potentially as long as YouTube and everything cooperates with me will be here and I will let everyone who attended today and registered. No, we'll also post it on social media, Twitter, Facebook, etc. We do a search option here now on our archives. This is the 10th year of Encompass Live. So we have a lot of archives here. If I scroll all the way down and I won't want to make them busy, this is the all the way back to our very first show, which was January 2009. So we have a search feature. You can search through all of our shows for topics, titles, presenters, names of people, or just most recent 12 months, only something new. So do keep that in mind as you are looking through our archives. Some of our episodes may be old, outdated information, expired links, possibly things that aren't going on anymore. But we are lingering so we archive everything and it will always be there for historical purposes. So take a look through there for anything else. So I'll let you know when the recording is ready. We'll hope you join us next week when our topic is are you afraid of the big bed inventory? I know many people this year. Yeah. Tina Walker, who's the library director at King Memorial Library here in our free mind, the rest will be with us. She's actually here at the library commission. She's going to drive down to talk about how they did their first inventory in at least 20 years. She's a new director there. So she's not even exactly sure how long ago it was last done and how they pulled it off. So join us next week if you want to learn how to do inventory at your library and anywhere other opportunities that we have here. And double slide is also on Facebook. We have links to our Facebook page here. So if you're a big Facebook user, like it. There we go. Like us over on Facebook. I post notices of when the shows are coming up. Reminders here to log on the fly today show when our recordings are ready. You can see them on here. So if you like Facebook and these a lot, give us a like over there. Other than that, get back to our page. That will wrap it up for today's show and we'll see you in the future on end of the slide. Bye everybody. Thank you. Thanks for taking with us. Bye. Thank you, Audrey. Thank you, Heather.