Jill Smith
Staff Writer
jsmith194@murraystate.edu
Students, faculty and staff now have the opportunity to explore their creative sides with technology that will promote new interests.
Makerspace is located in the lower level of Waterfield Library and is designed to inspire creativity in those who visit the space.
Former Dean of Libraries Ashley Ireland said Makerspace is a place to explore curiosity.
“The space is open to the MSU community as a celebration of pure exploration and curiosity, and to see what happens when we put technologies and tools in front of people of all skill levels, and with interests rooted in any discipline, to create and collaborate,” Ireland said.
Makerspace coordinator Jeremy Gosser said Makerspace is an area to provide resources to students while also being a space for faculty and staff.
“Students can start exploring by first teaching themselves and second by exploring some ideas geared towards working for themselves instead of someone else,” Gosser said. “It’s really an experimental space first and entrepreneurial space second.”
Gosser said Makerspace provides students with resources they might not have access to in their departments.
“It provides a resource that certain departments may not have the demand or the funds to facilitate, so it gives their students access and their teachers access to more current technology,” Gosser said.
This space offers students, faculty and staff a variety of current technology, including 3D printers, computers with 3D modeling, Adobe Cloud Suite and programs to create ads, a sound booth, a latex printer and more.
Dean of Libraries Cris Ferguson said this was an initiative that came out of the library.
“The plan to convert this to a Makerspace was a library initiative that didn’t require a vote,” Ferguson said. “The renovation required University approval and the expenditure of the funds did require approval, but it didn’t require a vote from the Board of Regents.”
Ferguson said the funding for this project comes from student fees.
“We have been using library technology funds, so students pay a technology fee and a web fee,” Ferguson said. “We have been using those funds to pay for these materials, and it’s been paid for over a couple of fiscal years.”
Ferguson said the space used to be a printing and copy center, but since it consolidated with printing services, the library had to decide what to do with the empty space.
“We talked about what to do with it and the idea of building a Makerspace and having this kind of space really came to the top about a service that many of our peer institutions have and that we wanted to provide to our students,” Ferguson said.
Ireland said Makerspaces are common in public libraries and have grown in popularity over the last decade.
“If we think about academic libraries as a space where one builds on existing knowledge and information, a makerspace provides the space and guidance to create entirely new skills and techniques to solve problems,” Ireland said.
Gosser said this space is open to all majors and can show students how to express various concepts from the Humanities side.
“There is all kinds of technology in here to sort of explore,” Gosser said. “Expression, narrative or other concepts that are tied into any area in the humanities-I see no reason why someone from the English department couldn’t find a way to make use of this room.”
Junior engineering and physics major Hayden Smee said this will be a great space for non-engineering students.
“I think this space will be a great creative outlet for non-engineering students to explore the field as long as it’s promoted well and students are given at least the bare minimum instruction to ensure they use the machines and software correctly,” Smee said. “Sometimes the use of modeling software and printing equipment can be tricky, even for the engineering students.”
Ferguson said she foresees students with different majors coming to make use of the space.
“I can see theatre students coming in here and doing props and design work, costuming students,” Ferguson said. “I could see folks from history coming in and looking to be like, ‘I’m interested in medieval weaponry, what can I do in terms of 3D stuff or mapping out battlefields.’”
Junior journalism student Dustin Wilcox said having a sound booth in a more accessible space will give students the opportunity to learn something new.
“Audio is an increasingly relevant form of media,” Wilcox said. “Even if not every Murray State student ends up in that sector, simply having the option to learn something new in an accessible environment will undoubtedly pay dividends in their future careers.”
Gosser said while it is open to faculty and staff, the space is currently not set-up for classroom instruction.
“I think the number of seats we have in here wouldn’t facilitate [class lectures],” Gosser said. “The space isn’t set-up for professors to come in and have a class in here.”
Makerspace is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m , but Gosser said these hours are subject to change.
“We have to expand hours by what students we have to fill those hours and by what the demand is of the students coming in here,” Gosser said. “I think that it will ramp up for the rest of the semester, and then next semester we’ll see what it’s really looking like.”
Makerspace is currently only open to individuals who are affiliated with the University, and all will be required to show a Murray State ID before using any of the technology.