1. Maker Literacy: Connecting IL
within the maker movement
Jessie Long and Jennifer Hicks
Miami University Regionals

2. Oh the Literacy
Information Literacy - A set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information
is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed
information (ALA)
Maker Literacy - A set of “practices for making and remaking artifacts and texts through
playful tinkering with materials and technologies” (Wohlwend et al.)
Technology Literacy - The ability to appropriately select and responsibly use technology
(Colorado Department of Education)
“Any” Literacy - competence or knowledge in a specified area
Other literacies - tool literacy, computer literacy, digital literacy

3. Literature Review
From “Making a Place for Makerspaces in Information Literacy” (Mann)
“It is no longer enough to only focus on the information-retrieval side of information
literacy. Instead, librarians should broaden the definition to include the power of the maker
movement to help library users locate, evaluate, and effectively use resources and
materials to explore the world around them.”
“When students have opportunities to read these kinds of texts in the context of making,
they reinforce all literacy skills simultaneously.”
“Traditional literacy and makerspaces not only can both hold a place in our libraries, they
can do so simultaneously.”

4. Literature Review
“At each stage of making activities, students
can develop information literacy skills by
determining the need for information about
their projects, getting the information they
need, evaluating the information available,
using it to accomplish the task, taking
ownership of those skills, and sharing their
work with others. Of course, each activity will
emphasize different skills, but all will call upon
some of the information literacy skills.”
“Students Are Makers! Building Information Literacy Skills Through
Makerspace Programs” (Lofton).

5. First Steps - Connecting with Faculty
Faculty Working Group - 2 separate sessions
3-5 faculty meet with library staff throughout the semester to create a class assignment that
can be implemented in the makerspace.
Faculty received funds-$200 (half after creating project/half when implemented in class) as
an incentive
Projects included:
● Creative Writing - Synesthesia - create a physical object that represents your story
● Criminal Justice - Forensics - create a 3d layout of crime scene
● Commerce - Prototype - create a product

6. Creative Writing - Sculpting Synesthesia
Synesthesia - the combining or confusing of our five senses in unexpected ways. For example,
describing sunlight as fuzzy, the color green as chilly, the letter B as shiny, or wallpaper as
noisy.
Initial assignment:
An in-class writing exercise, where students complete a fill-in-the-blank “survey” about the fiction
and poetry they have written. Example survey questions include “If your story was an animal, it
would be a ___,” or “If your poem was a food, it would be ___.” Students then write about why—
why is the story they’re writing a giraffe or a snail or an eagle? Why is the poem a banana?
TEC Lab connection:
Students create the physical object related to their story with the 3D printer, 3D pen, or laser
cutter. The object becomes a crucial element of the writing process, because it’s an immediate,
tangible representation that can be reshaped, recast, and revised in ways as the student
continues working through the vagaries of the creative process.
Completed? Yes.

7. Criminal Justice - Forensics
Initial Assignment: Design your own nightclub
Students work as a group to design the physical layout of a nightclub with the goal of
reducing crowding. They would create a 2D floor plan with cutouts and chalk.
TEC Lab connection:
Following assignment would use 3D pens and 3D printer to build a 3D model of the
nightclub as part of their crime scene development.
Completed?
Not completed. The instructor stopped communicating with us, and the final project
assignment was never set up.

8. Commerce - Prototype
Initial assignment: Design Thinking Makerspace Team Project
Students apply the design thinking process to generate solutions for a customer problem.
They engage in team activities that encourage working together in problem-solving, creative
thinking, and innovation processes. Final project includes a prototype or design as well as a
final report that documents the team’s processes and activities completed during the project
time period.
TEC Lab connection:
Use makerspace resources including 3D pens, 3D printer, vinyl cutter, and laser cutter to
engage in product prototyping/development and testing
Completed? Yes.

9. Continued Outreach - Information Literacy Menu
https://tinyurl.com/26nd9cb8

10. Additional Spaces - One Button Studio
The One Button Studio is available for anyone
to check-out.
Uses have included:
● Steam Studio video production
● Commercial recording
● Podcasting
● Video interviews
● Green screen workshops

11. Classes/Projects
Library staff can be requested to give overviews of the makerspace to classes. This usually
includes a presentation and sampling of some makerspace materials/tools.
Botany - Cutting Boards
● Laser Cutter
● Wood burning pens
Education - Tech Literacy
● 3D Pens
● Oculus Quest
● iPad apps - Merge Cube
Commerce - Explaining creativity
● Button maker
● Vinyl cutter

12. Classes/Projects
ACE - Showing creativity
● 3D pens
● Stained glass
Geology - Fossils and water quality
● Laser Cutter
● 3D printer
Art - Designing images
● 3D printer
● Laser Cutter

13. Departmental Connections
Campus Admissions -
team bonding
Classified Personnel Advisory
Committee - fundraising
ELC - International Week
presentations

14. Event Path - Programming
VolunTEC Lab - Make 2 Take 1
Traveling TEC Lab
Wreaths for nursing home
Cat houses for animal shelter
Community events

15. Event Path - Programming
Maker Faire
Terrariums
Sublimation

16. Connecting with the Community - STEM/STEAM
Two K-12 programs
STEAM Studio- Hosted by the university. Runs during summer with multiple week-long
sessions. Open to 5-8th grade area students.
Discover STEM Days- 8th grade local students attend a 1 day STEM camp.
Both programs have created a partnership with the library/makerspace to offer hands-on
activities tied to science, technology, engineering, art, and math.
Some of our projects have included:
● 3D pen bridge building
● cardboard circuits
● digital design with sublimation
printing

17. Outside our Library - Additional Projects
Three examples from Makerspaces for Adults
● Chapter 23 - Laser-Cut Snowflake Workshop: Introducing
design and fabrication to makerspace beginners
(Sheaffer)
● Chapter 25 - A Tale of Two Tortoises: How the Cline
Library MakerLab is building curriculum, community, and
cohesive service design (Schmand, See, and Rowan
Wipf)
● Chapter 29 - Taking a Virtual Archaeological Site Tour A
Class Visit to the Baths of Caracalla (Fleming, Reber,
and Crowe)

18. Laser Cut Snowflakes
University connection with students, faculty, and staff
Designed as a collaboration between the university makerspace
and a library-based digital media design center.
Purpose: Introduces makerspace beginners to design software and
fabrication using a laser cutter. Also set up as part of their outreach
to meet and integrate new members of the community.
Process:
● Design a snowflake using suggested software.
● Use laser cutter to cut out snowflakes.
● Add string or ribbon to hang up ornaments.
Maker Literacy/Information Literacy: Learning how to properly
design and create vector files, learning and understanding how to
setup and ‘print’ a file on a laser cutter.

19. Tortoise Shell
Community Connection
The library was the largest 3D printing environment in Northern
Arizona that also serves the regional community.
Purpose: A local veterinarian reached out to them to help repair
a damaged shell on a tortoise.
Process:
● Scan shell and mold broken pieces.
● Use 3D modelling software to make new shell pieces.
● Return pieces to the veterinarian for sterilization and
fitting.
Maker Literacy/Information Literacy: Troubleshooting how to
best scan, mold, print, and fit repairs on living reptiles. Making
numerous prototypes to adjust to needed changes.

20. Virtual Archaeological Site Tour
University connection for a particular course using the library’s Digital
Makerspace.
Purpose: Enable students to visit an archaeological site in Rome without leaving campus. For this
assignment, it was the Baths of Caracalla, where they analyzed Roman history by investigating the site’s
features.
Process:
● Locate a site in Google Earth containing sufficient detailed images.
● Have students work in pairs with one on the VR headset and one watching a monitor to provide
direction and movement.
● Discuss what they learned from their field trip along with the value of VR for exploring archaeological
sites.
Maker Literacy/Information Literacy: A virtual field trip “allows students to gain an experiential
understanding of what archaeological sites can tell us about the past, and how to reconstruct political and
economic structures via careful interpretation of architecture and artifacts.”

21. Learning from Failure
Failure Happens
● Failed projects
○ Equipment failure
○ Under/overestimating knowledge
of makers
○ Time constraints
● Failed outreach
○ Few or no attendees
○ Lack of faculty participation
Troubleshooting
● Be brave!
○ Learn more about equipment than
you ever intended
○ Take things apart (within reason and
warranty)
● Be creative!
○ Create online tutorials and detailed
instructions.
○ Have them on hand or playing on a
loop during events
● Try again or not!

22. Tutorials and Instructions
https://libguides.lib.miamioh.edu/middletown_tec_lab
https://youtu.be/bMAec1E8WyI

23. Oh the (Lack of) Assessment
One study from Wallace, Trkay, Peery, and Chivers found:
● Student achievement in maker competencies including teamwork, time management,
communication, design thinking, problem solving, and knowledge sharing.
● Anecdotal and largely subjective
More needs to be done to get a better understanding of assessment, particularly within university
libraries. Why?
Benefits of assessment:
● Justification of makerspaces and programs
● Fulfilling a requirement for grants or other funding reporting
● Meeting goals of an assignment or program
Connections within the community, course assignments, and departments provide opportunities for
various assessment methods:
● Surveys of participants
● Student reflections on projects
● Photographs of events
Making During a Pandemic: tinyurl.com/MIRA2021Presentation

24. Growth of the Movement
Makerspaces: a practical guide for librarians 2nd edition (Burke and Kroski) contains
results from an informal 2017 survey that asked librarians about their makerspace setup
and use.
From 273 respondents:
● 60 percent (164 respondents) have a makerspace
● 20 percent (55 respondents) were planning to start one in the near future
● 20 percent (54 respondents) do not have one, nor are they planning to start one
When people ask why you have a makerspace, what do you tell them?
● “It is an opportunity for students to take risks and learn from failure in a consequence-
free environment.”
● “Makerspaces provide a place for collaboration, critical thinking, troubleshooting,
determination, education, and innovation. We spark interest in hobbyists and help
hone skills to close our local jobs gap.”

25. References and Further Reading
American Library Association (ALA). 2019. “Information Literacy.” Welcome to ALA's Literacy Clearinghouse,
https://literacy.ala.org/information-literacy/.
Bowler, Leanne, and Ryan Champagne. 2016. “Mindful Makers: Question Prompts to Help Guide Young Peoples’ Critical
Technical Practices in Maker Spaces in Libraries, Museums, and Community-Based Youth Organizations.” Library and
Information Science Research 38 (2): 117–124. doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2016.04.006.
Burke, John, and Ellyssa Kroski. 2018. Makerspaces : A Practical Guide for Librarians. Second edition. Practical Guides for
Librarians: No. 38. Lantham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Hicks, Jennifer and Jessica Long, eds. 2020. Makerspaces for Adults: Best Practices and Great Projects. Lantham: Rowman
& Littlefield.
Lofton, Jane. 2017. “Students Are Makers! Building Information Literacy Skills Through Makerspace Programs.” CSLA
Journal 40 (2): 18–20.
Mann, Leah. 2018. “Making a Place for Makerspaces in Information Literacy.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 58 (2):
82–86. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26588782

26. References and Further Reading
Meyer, Anika, and Ina Fourie. 2015. “What to Make of Makerspaces Tools and DIY Only or Is There an Interconnected
Information Resources Space?” LIBRARY HI TECH 33 (4): 519–525. doi:10.1108/LHT-09-2015-0092
Stornaiuolo, Amy, et al. 2018. “Building Spaces for Literacy in School: Mapping the Emergence of a Literacy Makerspace.”
English Teaching: Practice & Critique (Emerald Group Publishing Limited) 17 (4): 357–370. doi:10.1108/ETPC-03-
2018-0033.
Wallace, Martin K., Gretchen Trkay, Katie Musick Peery, and Morgan Chivers. 2017. "Making Maker Literacies: Integrating
academic library makerspaces into the undergraduate curriculum." In Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium
on Academic Makerspaces.
Wardrip, Peter Samuelson, Samuel Abramovich, Rebecca Millerjohn, and Jordan M. Smith. 2019. “Assessing Learning and
Engagement in Library Makerspaces: It’s Harder Than You Think.” Young Adult Library Services 17 (4): 32–35.
Wohlwend, Karen E., Jill A. Scott, Joanne H. Yi, Amanda Deliman, and Tolga Kargin. 2018. "Hacking toys and remixing
media: Integrating maker literacies into early childhood teacher education." In Digital childhoods: Technologies in
children's everyday lives, edited by Susan Danby, Marilyn Fleer, Christina Davidson, & Maria Hatzigianni, 147-162.
Sydney: Springer.

27. Jessie Long
Outreach & Instruction
Librarian
Miami University
Regionals
Email: longjh@miamioh.edu
Telephone: 0015137273225
Twitter: @gnome_free
Jennifer Hicks
Circulation & Reserves
Supervisor/Makerspace
Program Coordinator
Miami University Regionals
Email: hicksjl2@miamioh.edu
Telephone: 0015137273221
Twitter: @jenniohio