FAYETTEVILLE — The Fayetteville Free Library is planning to add new space to its facility for a computer lab that would allow entrepreneurs to design and produce prototypes of product ideas. The library has equipment for the lab, known as the Fab Lab, in place. It includes 3D design software and 3D printers known as […]
FAYETTEVILLE — The Fayetteville Free Library is planning to add new space to its facility for a computer lab that would allow entrepreneurs to design and produce prototypes of product ideas.
The library has equipment for the lab, known as the Fab Lab, in place. It includes 3D design software and 3D printers known as MakerBots, which create plastic parts designed using the software.
The printers are manufactured by MakerBot Industries, a company formed in 2009.
The equipment is available now, but the library is aiming to create dedicated space for the lab in its undeveloped east wing, says Sue Considine, executive director. The 9,000-square-foot space could eventually house the Fab Lab along with other technology the library makes available to the public like video editing software, podcasting equipment, and more.
The space will also serve as a business center with room for meetings and presentations. The real hope, Considine says, is to create a venue where like-minded people can come together, share ideas, and perhaps launch new ventures.
The library plans to break renovation of the space into pieces, Considine says. Talks are ongoing now with contractors and architects on a first phase that would add 2,700 square feet to the facility.
That space would be dedicated specifically to the Fab Lab.
Renovation of the entire space would cost about $1.3 million. The library has been awarded a state grant of $250,000 for the project and is also applying for a federal grant of $100,000.
Considine says the library is planning further fundraising efforts as well.
Two of the 3D printers for the Fab Lab were donated and the library purchased a third. Considine says she would like to add a laser cutter to the Fab Lab as well.
Users of the MakerBots can also browse and print everything from coat hangers to models of the U.S. Capitol via designs collected on the MakerBot Industries’ open source website, Thingiverse.
Considine notes that the 3D printers are just the start.
“This technology is changing and evolving as quickly as computer technology,” she says.
Equipment like what’s in the Fab Lab is normally found in private labs at universities or in pay-to-play facilities, where users rent time. The Fayetteville library is the first in the country to offer free, public access to the equipment.
The idea for the lab came from Lauren Britton, the library’s transliteracy development director. She first heard about the technology in a Syracuse University class, where she was working on her master’s degree in library and information science.
She wrote a paper on creating such a space in a library while she was working at the Fayetteville Free Library. Considine liked the idea and decided to move forward.
The library began providing services to patrons, including help with business startup and job hunting, after the economic downturn in 2008. The Fab Lab is a natural extension of that work, Considine says.
With the addition of the Fab Lab, an entrepreneur can walk into the library, do a patent search on their idea, get help creating a business plan, learn to use 3D design software, and walk out with a fully realized prototype.
The potential for a community of entrepreneurial thinkers to form around is exciting, Considine says.
“This is a way to capture that,” she says. “The idea is to create a culture around the business center and the Fab Lab where like-minded people can find each other.”