Tales from a Loud Librarian

I have always planned makerspace activities during the library's annual celebrations of Teen Read Week and Teen Tech Week. We have crafted bracelets, woven paper bookmarks, constructed duct tape wallets, and have created many interesting paper crafts. When I began planning these type of activities many years ago, I had no clue that there was a specific name for it: makerspace.  Cart for the Mini-Makerspace Over the last year or two, I have been trying to find grants and other monetary sources to fund a mini-makerspace in the library. I wanted to continue with the crafting activities, but I also wanted to get some of the electronic and building materials that can be a part of a makerspace. A Donor's Choose grant brought a Lego station to the library. Unfortunately, I did not win the grants that would have brought a 3D printer, Arduino, and Raspberry Pi to the library. I was devastated. All of that equipment is expensive, and though I had library money that ...

I have spent the last 30 years working in public schools in Louisiana. I have to say, except when I taught in a classroom that was federally funded, that I never had the funding that I needed to run my program. When I became a librarian in 1991, I knew immediately that the budget from the district and the state would not be enough to maintain and improve the collection. There were some block grants and some school money that helped in the early years, but I knew from the first time that I stepped into a library that I would have to hold fundraisers if I wanted to provide my students with a vibrant program. You can't run a library on nothing though I wish that you could.  When I arrived at PFTSTA eight years ago, the district gave me a budget to match our student body of 175 students. I was starting a library from scratch at a new school. I needed funding. The principal, at the time, had received grant monies to outfit the school, and luckily, she was generous with the libr...