Page 25 - Campus Technology, April/May 2017

LIBRARIES
enable her team to expand usage in new ways. Another intention is to bring different disciplines together in the hopes of sparking new ideas. To expand visibility, the library has begun hosting “a lot of programming,” such as a “Coffee and Viz event series,” open to the campus community as well as the public. At each event, NC State researchers and outside experts share their visualization work on a particular topic in one of the libraries’ high-tech spaces. That brings together people who have an interest in visualization as well as those who have an interest in the theme. Topics have included data journalism, human experience in virtual environments, social networking structures, geospatial modeling and what St. Paul’s Cathedral looked like before the Great
Fire of London.
Recently, recalled Lynema, a presentation on
high-performance computation lured a member of the university’s marine, earth and atmospheric sciences faculty specializing in oceanography to learn about in situ HPC processing from a speaker. “These two people connected,” she said, over the possibilities for modernizing how weather prediction was done. “They were like,
‘I think we can work together. I think we have the pieces. What kind of grant can we get that would let us do this work?’”
6) Learn How to Tell the Story
Lynema knows those kinds of collaborations are already taking place using technology available in the libraries. Now she and her group need to figure out how to publicize those and other “flagship projects” of interest — “telling the story,” as she put it.
Doing that better could have two positive outcomes, she predicted. First, those narratives could inspire the broader community and “help re-inspire our vendor community to be excited about the new kinds of things that people are trying to do.” Second, good stories will address the libraries’ desire to make the technology more accessible. “You can’t just have technology or spaces. You have to tell the story to people of what they can do with them and why they would be useful.”
Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for Campus Technology.
HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR MAKERSPACE
Rich Sykes has advised campus libraries all along the Atlantic coast as a consultant for Amtek, which calls itself a “21st century educational training technology and equipment company.” The products he helps sell do 3D printing and design, CNC milling, laser cutting, vacuum forming, injection molding, wire bending, 3D design and PC board manufacturing, among other jobs. In his time on the road, Sykes has learned a few lessons that can help libraries stay relevant and well equipped in their campus communities.
Show off your makerspace. Don’t hide it in the basement. “When somebody walks into the library and they see 50 students in there doing really neat things, it feeds off itself,” Sykes advised. “The more visible you make these spaces, the more likely it is that they will be abuzz with activity. Ultimately that’s what you want.”
Choose equipment with simple interfaces. People should be able to get “a few minutes of instruction” and use the tool, said Sykes. Vendors in the maker industry have recognized this trend by releasing plenty of “entry-level” design programs, such as such as Autodesk’s Tinkercad and 123D.
Stay on top of open access standards. An aspect of simplicity is choosing products that have adopted open standards. Printers that work with 3DPrinterOS, for example, give users access to a web-based interface for managing their print jobs. GrabCAD Print, from Stratasys, does the same, reading native CAD files from a multitude of design programs and allowing them to be managed online and printed on Stratasys printers. The latter program, said Sykes, would enable members of a team to collaborate on 3D print projects even when one person uses AutoCAD, for instance, and another uses Solidworks.
Stay tuned to funding opportunities. Vendors have a vested interest in following the money. They may be able to help you identify sources of grants and state money that you wouldn’t have heard of before. In Sykes’ region of the country, that could involve Virginia’s Higher Education Equipment Trust Fund, an Appalachian Regional Commission grant or funding from the National Science Foundation. All have helped his library customers purchase equipment.
Set up short try-it-out sessions. The best way to persuade people to support makerspaces, Sykes is convinced, is to give them a little bit of training and let them try it out. The message to use: “Come to a session, sit down and let’s innovate. Let’s put our hands on things. Let’s go through and do these projects, to demystify the technology and show you what can be done with it.” People get enthusiastic as a result. Experience “breaks down barriers,” he said.
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CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY | April/May 2017
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