MURFREESBORO — Today’s
libraries are places of construction as well as concentration, and MTSU is
right in step with the changes.
The James E. Walker Library will celebrate the success of
its new “Makerspace” area with an official grand opening and dedication ceremony
at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, in the second-floor Digital Media Studio. Light refreshments will be available.
The area provides equipment that enables students to design and work on
projects, as well as write computer code or other specifications with which
they can replicate those projects.
Makerspace is equipped with three-dimensional or 3D printers, a resin
printer, a laser cutter/etcher, a vinyl cutter, virtual reality and kits full
of parts that can be used to build just about anything one can imagine.
The kits contain plates, brackets, beams with holes in them for screws,
sensors, joysticks, Wi-Fi modules, Bluetooth modules, temperature and humidity
sensors, compasses, drive motors and belts.
“It’s to give students a place to challenge themselves, to come in and
try to take an idea and prototype it and get it to fruition,” said Neal McClain,
director of library technology. “It’s a place where they can work together with
students from other disciplines.”
For example, art majors can make kinetic sculptures that move due to
built-in motorized systems. Education majors can familiarize themselves with
LittleBits kits, which are being used by children in grades three through
eight. With virtual reality equipment called Oculus Rift, electronic media
communication students can envision and create their own animation videos.
McClain, who holds a master’s degree in computer science, sees the
library as a totally appropriate place for this hands-on approach to satisfying
intellectual curiosity.
“An academic library, once upon a time, was just a place to go do
research and study in the dead quiet,” said McClain. “That game’s changed in
the last 10 to 12 years.”
To spark interest, McClain has placed colorful little figurines created
with the 3D and resin printers at the Digital Media Studio’s front desk. Dogs,
cats, unicorns, Pokémon characters and Darth Vader, among others, greet incoming
students as Makerspace mascots. They were mere threads of plastic before the
printers turned their human creators’ computer code into actual physical
entities.
Student programmer and mechatronics engineering major Aldair Nieto said
Makerspace is especially important to students with projects they must complete
for classes.
“The equipment looks complicated because it may be unfamiliar to them,”
said Nieto. “Once they give it a try, they will realize it is actually somewhat
simple to use. All they need is a good imagination and be willing to take a
chance at trying something new.”
For more information, contact McClain at 615-898-2572 or neal.mcclain@mtsu.edu.
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