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Public Libraries Tinker With Offering Makerspaces
eggboard writes "Public libraries are starting to build labs that let patrons experiment with new arts, crafts, and sciences, many of them associated with the maker movement. It's a way to bring this technology and training to those without the money or time to join makerspaces or buy gear themselves. It extends the mission of libraries to educate, inform, and enrich. Many are now experimenting with experimenting."
This kind of thing has happened before. The ancient Library of Alexandria was much more than a library. It was a government -funded research facility and think tank where many of the greatest minds of the ancient world worked. Granted that it was not a public library like those found in ancient Rome, it's not a surprise at all that public libraries would try to enter this space in at least some form.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
I have lots of wonderful weird old books from around WWII. It seems that in that era community centres (or centers) had equipped workshops for citizens to drop by and do some woodworking, or repair electrical appliances. After some reflection, I realized this is not compatible with the social model of consuming to keep the economy growing. But it would be nice to have a Mr Fixit type person running a shop for every x number of citizens in an area would can not only run 3D printers, but all the other stuff we seem to have lost in the last half century or so.
Mostly random stuff.
As a taxpayer I'd rather fund local libraries that get the masses off the streets, educated, literate, potentially productive and even entrepreneurial. If I was going to cut bloated government bureaucracies that are not essential to the freedom or security of our nation, I'd start with the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.