About Our Community
We love libraries as a place to explore, make things, be creative, connect with others and learn! This community is for people who run programs and manage space for making in libraries. Our community is inclusive, diverse and filled with hope and positive energy! Whether you are just starting out in the world of making, or you have been at it for years, this is the place to collaborate and connect.
The world of making, from low tech to high tech, always has room for learning and growing, and this space is for library staff to help and inspire each other! We know you have so many great ideas to share, so we created a community to help make those connections!
Why Join Library Makers?
We learn from each other
The value of this community is drawn from the members who join. We are all about mutual support and open sharing of ideas. We have had a Facebook Group for a while, but we know that now everyone wants to be on social media, so this is a place that is just ours. We are not here to sell you anything, and we are care about your privacy. We are library people and makers, simply here to connect with other library people and makers.
This site is our community hub, and it gives you a place to ask each other questions, share resources, attend online programs, find collaboration partners, and more. We are holding space for you to engage in this platform and meet other maker people who work in public libraries, academic libraries, school libraries, tribal libraries...any kind of library!
Start out by attending one of our events, like the monthly Happy Hour on Zoom or one of our learning experiences, ask a question in one of our online conversation threads or create a profile to tell us more about your work as a maker in libraries! We can't wait to get to know you!
Our Values
Learning
As library maker staff we are in a constant state of learning and growth. Because we don’t know everything, we want to offer a network to share knowledge, resources, and mentorship. Members are open and supportive of different approaches to learning.
Everyone
Library Makers is a place for everyone no matter their race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identification, socioeconomic status, age or physical or mental ability. We treat members fairly and respectfully. People are valued based on distinctive skills, experience, and perspective. We recognize and embrace the uniqueness of each individual and their contributions to the collective.
Community
We make sure our meetings and events are accessible to all members of the community. We come together as professionals regardless of position or titles in support of learning and each other. This is a work in progress and will continue to adapt to the needs of its members as we grow and the world around us changes .
A Collaborative Effort
Some really cool library people have worked to create this space. Thank you to our Charter Member Libraries who worked to develop Library Makers: Providence Public Library, Evanston Public Library, Berryville Public Library, Greene County Public Library, Cameron Public Library, Pikes Peak Public Library and San Mateo County Public Library.
This is only just the beginning! Funding for this project is from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in partnership with Califa, Nation of Makers, The Association of Rural and Small Libraries, Rockman et al, Regallium Consulting LLC and P. Van Halsema Consulting.
