The Greene County Ohio Public Library (Xenia, OH) did something like this a few years ago and other libraries in the area (Dayton Metro and Troy-Miami County) started similar spaces, too. They all have a similar array of machines-- CNC, 3D printing, dye sub printing, laser engravers, vinyl cutters, sewing and embroidery, video and photo editing, etc. It's amazing to me that within a five year timespan all of this became available to anybody in the community for the cost of materials.
replyThat sounds so cool, are they building an entire fablab in there?
replyYea, they built a new library near me a couple years ago and have a full makers space in a separate large room. I guess "check out" is the wrong term as you can't take the machines home. You just go there and use them or have the trained librarian operate the machine.
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