School Library Makerspaces

April 1, 2014

This guide to setting up and justifying a maker space begins promisingly with practical and helpful information on topics such as space and setup, budgeting, necessary materials and equipment and safety rules. Preddy connects the idea of the school library maker space with the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner as well as the common core and the STEM movement. She outlines the possibility of rewarding the makers with digital badges and participatory recognition. She also suggests that some of the making should be done in the school community for the greater good, rather than simply the making itself. The bulk of this book is made up of potential projects to do in the school makerspace, ranging from making lip balm and soap to weaving and storyboarding. The focus is on analog rather than digital, with the only tech-based project being creating a video. While this book may be of use to the solo practitioner, it suffers from poor design. Dark and shadowy photographs vary from project to project, cluttered pathfinder pages, as well as the orientation of directions, change from vertical to horizontal for a single project (pg. 110), making the instructions hard to understand. Much of the information contained within is available online in a more attractive format. Indeed, one of the sources sited (makerspace.com) has a free "playbook" available on this very subject.-Stacy Dillon, LREI, New York City

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.