Located in the lower level of the newly re-opened Midtown Carnegie Branch Library, the “Maker Space” offers a spacious room filled with buzzing machines, bright colors and creative minds.
Before the branch closed for renovations in May of 2024, the Maker Space was created in 2018 with a 3D printer, laser engraver, heat press and a vinyl cutter. The Carnegie branch reopened last month and with it a Maker Space featuring more equipment and ways to get creative.
How to use the Maker Space
Walking into the space, there’s shelves of colorful yarn, various kinds of papers, craft materials and tools, plenty of seating and several machines situated around the room.
Krystal Smith, reference manager for the Springfield-Greene County Library, manages the Maker Space. Starting out with the new machines can be overwhelming, she said, so individuals should make a one-on-one appointment with a staff member to help get started and explore the options. Use of the space is by appointment only, excluding their open studio on Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., which is first-come, first-serve. Appointments will generally be scheduled one week in advance and will start with an hour one-on-one with a staff member and then the guest can stay and use the machines for the duration of the space's hours.
Smith said one of the most popular machines is the button maker. People can print out or create images and use the space’s Cricut station to cut them out. Then the button materials and the image are put into the button maker and pressed together to make a button pin. She added that like a lot of the machines in the Maker Space, the button maker can be a useful resource for small business owners or people starting up a side business. She said a lot of the resources in the space are great for creating products, business merchandise or just advertising for a business.
Another feature of the space is a digitization system that can take recordings from things like VHS tapes, audio cassettes or 8 millimeter and Super 8 film. Then the system copies the audio in real time or slower onto a form of memory storage, like a flash drive or SD card.
“This is a very tearful station, because sometimes people will not have heard their grandpa’s voice for 20 years and different things like that,” Smith said. “A lot of sentimental memories here, it’s really cool.”
In the corner of the room is a metal cart with a sink. Smith explained that it's a “kitchen cart” and that the library has a community fridge upstairs where people can get free, fresh produce supplied by Springfield Community Gardens. She said they have cooking materials like an oven, grill tops, utensils and appliances, and they’ve had informational programs about vegetables and made things like salsas and quesadillas during cooking programs in the past.
Along with the 3D printer, laser engraver, heat press, Cricut and vinyl cutter, they also have a large format vinyl cutter for big decals, and a vacuum former that can create molds for objects, like chocolates, soaps or packaging for products. Additionally, there is a 3D scanner that can scan virtually anything and make a 3D printed replica of it. Smith said the scanner creates an image file out of the object that can then be 3D printed. She added that people have found this especially useful for recreating lost items like gameboard pieces or a guitar pick. Smith also highlighted their Glowforge laser engraver. It can engrave most things, from cardboard to wood, acrylic, leather and even cork.
Programs
They occasionally hold programs at the Maker Space, according to Smith. She said their crochet program, “Book Blankets,” has been popular — participants crochet squares of colors associated with books that are then attached together into a blanket.
“We had a lady recently come in who had learned how to crochet here,” she said. “She was blind, and she won an award for her crochet, so she wanted to show us and come back and thank us for teaching her how to crochet, so that was really cool.”
Additionally, they have programs like magnet making classes, chocolate mold making classes and cooking classes using the “kitchen cart.”
Pricing and hours
There is no cost to use the machines and appliances in the Maker Space, and pricing is based on materials. The library has material available, or you can bring your own, and the process is free of charge. Costs are determined based on how much material is used, and the prices typically range from 15 cents per quantity to $4 per quantity.
A library card is not required to use the Maker Space. Hours depend on class schedules and staff availability, but the space is generally open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
The Springfield-Greene County Library District has a monthly printed magazine called Bookends that has the monthly calendar of information about the Maker Space’s programs, as well as other events and library news. Appointments can be booked on the Maker Space’s website, and information about programs can also be found on the Springfield-Greene County Library District’s website.
