Community Creation Room
I came home for Thanksgiving, and much to my surprise I discovered that my local, small-town library has a new maker space! It’s called the Community Creation Room, and it features a variety of equipment and programs, as well as a 3D printer. The library states that the room is intended “for exploration and creation of business logos, musical expressions and recordings, digital illustration, movie making, and technology education,” although I do not doubt that the public will find many other uses for it.
The space features iMac workstations, and the software loaded onto them includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X, Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements, Autodesk 123D, and Studio One Artist. There is also an audio recording studio, a video recording studio, the 3D printer, and headphones and microphones. There are also classes for using these things, which is probably a good idea. Altogether, it looks like a really nice setup.
The question is: Is this an appropriate resource for my community? Manitowoc is a small town in Wisconsin, a far reach from the gleaming metropolis of Chicago. But I really do believe that this maker space could be a valuable resource for my community. I can see this being used by small business owners (the library must have thought so too, since they mentioned business logos), as well as high school students. I know of at least one kid from my graduating class who is pursuing a music career — a recording studio and the audio software would have been so helpful for that! With the appropriate marketing, this creator space could go a long way.
