littleBits & Star Wars

So littleBits just announced on their website that they are releasing a build your own C3PO robot for $100. I would be a little nervous about circulating it because it has many of the delicate wires that could easily be ripped out but it would be a perfect edition for Hour of Code activities in December or other in house robot programs. Note: A tablet or phone is required to program the droid to complete missions.

On the note of delicate wires, I am so sick and tired of the regular littleBits makerspace kits we have coming back with broken battery chords.

I have pretty much replaced them every 2 checkouts. I just broke down and bought the USB bit and the AC adapter. All batteries, power bits and chords will be removed! Here's an old post about what to include in those littlebits checkout kits because be warned some of those bits do not survive the wear and tear of children's take home use.

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Our most popular makerspace/STEM/Library of Things

As of April 2018, we did a kit circulation report. We had 106 kits which have circulated 1,047 times since it's inception in 2015. Here is the top 10 list of most circulated. These include hobby kits, puzzles, cake pans, instruments, science robots/STEM, and American Girl dolls. The ukulele kits (we have one soprano and one concert kit) have been around the longest and have circulated 106 times total. Just remember someone should change the strings yearly and definitely include a tuner (we like the snark) as new strings on a uke take a while to break in. Surprisingly our meditation toolbox comes in second with 51 checkouts. It is just some CDs and a DVD. This one has also been around since the inception of our kits. Next up is our virtual reality headset toolbox. It is a Homido Virtual Reality headset. If that is too pricey, I recommend Google Cardboard. Our sewing machine comes in 5th. Knitting is a great idea for a toolbox and very popular but li

3D Printing Signs for the Library Collection

Last weekend, I went to the annual Tee-Off mini golf event at the Brookline Public Library. As a first time visitor, I was mini-golfing with my phone at the ready. Special thanks to the AMAZING librarian rockstar Robin Brenner for so many great ideas. It truly is worth a visit just to see her teen room. Here are a few 3D printing/marketing ideas to takeaway: Having a 3D printer filtration cart would be wonderful in our library. Look at the price if you dare. Right now I have to go downstairs to retrieve prints because we are concerned about the fumes and little hands touching anything while the printer is on. I have a video camera set up downstairs using an iPad 2 and the free app called Presence for monitoring but sometimes I do forget to keep checking the presence website while I'm on the desk especially since it makes this annoying beeping sound to say, "Are you still watching?!"..As the sign reveals on the cart, the propensity to want to lean or jostle the car

New ideas for Circulation-Library of Things/ Makerspace Kits

The DFL currently experiments with hobby, STEAM, and Technology kits that are housed both in the adult section and the kids room. These kits include musical instruments, video equipment, puzzles, cake plans, robots, looms, and more available for checkout. The kits are bought using our Amazon prime account, under the supervision of the head of circulation using a special makerspace kit budget and backed up by a kit committee made up of various departments to streamline the process. The kits with the most holds by far have been the Retro Nintendo and Super Nintendo Classic which were small batch pre-Christmas releases for the last two years. Rather than blowing the dirt out of your old cartridges, these consoles have games built in for your playing pleasure. According to Walmart, the Nintendo "classics" are on sale as of today. Our kit contains a small palm sized console, 2 controllers (try to upgrade wireless ones if you can), an ac adapter, and, I recommend, a carr

LIBRARY AS MAKERSPACE

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