Shaker Library’s renovated Creative Spaces reopens with upgrades to tools, equipment, furniture
Shaker Library users can now take advantage of new offerings in the library’s renovated Creative Spaces, which reopened to the public in May.
Library staff made safety and accessibility priorities for the $50K renovation, which also includes new tools and software that offer “a space to craft your story.”
The new tools and technology in the Creative Spaces fall into three categories under the “craft your story” umbrella.
- Hobbies and crafting: Expressing yourself through fiber arts, sewing, jewelry making, leather working, linocut printmaking, stained glass, and more.
- Memory preservation: Tools for scrapbooking, bookbinding, and laminating, as well as tools to convert analog media (photographs, video tapes, and records) into digital formats.
- Digital storytelling: Software and technology that support graphic and web design, digital art, illustration, animation, photography, music production, and more.
Highlights of the renovation include:
- Craft storage carts on wheels, organized by craft category, for easy access.
- Durable tables surfaced with butcher block for cutting and heavy use.
- Sewing machines (including one computerized machine) and a serger.
- Music production tools such as a DJ controller and MIDI keyboard.
- Book binding tools such as book presses, a heat binder, and a comb binder.
- For novels and other long-form writing projects, Scrivener.
- Heat and rotary tools, such as high temperature heat guns, a dremel rotary tools, and soldering irons.
- Items to make the space accessible, such as an adjustable table for people using wheelchairs, a magnifier for people who have trouble seeing, and PPE for people of all shapes and sizes.
- In the interest of safety, a shop vac and air filtration system.
Customers may use the Creative Spaces anytime Main Library is open. You must be a CLEVNET cardholder and sign a user agreement. To use the sewing, rotary, and heat tools, you must first complete a training, which is offered quarterly. To ensure the tools you need will be available when you arrive, you can reserve equipment ahead of time.
Technology Experience Specialist Emily Lohr, who led the renovation, teaches classes in the Creative Spaces. Find classes and sign up for one using the library event calendar at events.shakerlibrary.org.
“We want people to know this is free for the community to use,” she says. “If you’re a library cardholder, this is your space. These are your tools. Let us store them for you, and you can come in and use them when you’re ready.”
To learn more about the tools available in the Creative Spaces, visit www.shakerlibrary.org/create.
