‘It’s for everyone’: King City library’s Make-It Lab creates space for learning

3D printers, virtual reality, robots available for use by community members

Yorkregion.com
April 8, 2022
Laura Broadley

It’s a place of learning, of fun and of invention.

And it’s at the King City branch of the King Township Public Library.

The Make-It Lab offers a variety of drop-in sessions where community members have the chance to try out technology such as 3D printers, robots and virtual reality.

“A Make-It Lab is space where people can come in and try out new technologies and different STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) based activities. It just encourages them to explore and experiment and create,” said Stephanie Wilcox, community outreach specialist.

The lab was launched at the beginning of December last year.

“It’s been extremely successful since then. We have a lot of people coming in and out,” Wilcox said.

Wilcox is quick to point out the Make-It Lab is for people of all ages.

“I think our youngest has been two years old and I think our oldest has been 70 years old,” she said. “It really is a space for all ages. We do get that question a lot. It’s for everyone.”

Since December, the lab has seen people come in a learn new technology with positive responses from community members.

“It’s been really exciting and rewarding for us to see that the public has responded to it so well,” Wilcox said.

During March break there were about 75 people at the Make-It Lab.

“That was very exciting for us,” Wilcox said.

The library has introduced a certification process where residents are given the opportunity to become certified on a piece of equipment in the Make-It Lab. This means they are able to come to the lab and use the tool with minimal staff oversight.

“We have a lot of different technologies in there that a lot of people might not have used before,” Wilcox said. “We have created a lot of tutorial videos in-house and so people will watch those tutorial videos and they’ll create their first project supervised by one of our more experienced staff, and then after that they’re free to explore and create as they like.”

The library is in the process of setting up “Maker Popups” at the other branch locations in Nobleton and Schomberg, which will allow residents to access some of the same equipment found in the Make-It Lab.

“At the library, at our hearts, we’re not just about books. We’re about facilitating exploration and we’re about sharing information and education. This is an opportunity for us to do that in a hands-on way,” Wilcox said.

Daniel Enss, a Make-It Lab technician, said there’s “so much” to learn at the lab.

“We have a number of different programmable robots for different levels of learning,” he said.

“We also have virtual reality sets. We have several 3D printers. We have laptops to be used for design and computer programming experiments. We have filming equipment. We have lights. We have professional grade microphones,” Enss said.

For more information, go to www.kinglibrary.ca/Make-It-Lab.