Webinar about Makerspaces - FREE FOR ALISE MEMBERS!

Date: May 3, 2017 Time: 2:00 - 3:00pm EST Registration Fees:  Free for ALISE members $50 for non-members Learn more and sign up today!

Makerspaces in Libraries: Creating Change through Active Partnerships with Communities   This webinar will discuss how libraries promote active community engagement through Makerspaces. A Makerspace is a place for community members to engage in creative making activities in a range of domains, offering access to fabrication technologies and social opportunities with other Makers. Community engagement is the key to success. Several library Makerspaces are currently practicing innovative approaches to engaging their communities. However, there seems to be a lack of consensus regarding what social responsibilities library Makerspaces must assume in today’s society. The panel proposes the following overarching questions: What social responsibilities do Makerspaces in a library have to their community? What are some of the effective ways Makerspaces currently practice to engage community?  What should LIS educators do to promote community engagement and social responsibility in and through library Makerspaces? Moderator:  Kyungwon Koh, PhD, Assistant ProfessorDr. Kyungwon Koh is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Studies. Her areas of expertise include the Maker movement in libraries and education, information behavior, and youth services. She earned a PhD and Masters at Florida State University. Currently, she is the principal investigator of two IMLS-funded research projects on youth and Makerspaces. Speakers:  June Abbas, PhD, Professor Dr. June Abbas is a professor at OU. Youth, libraries services, technologies, and understanding and representing users’ information behavior through system design are at the center of her research. Leanne Bowler, PhD, Associate Professor Chair of the Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship at the School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. Her research explores youth interactions with information, data, and technology, as well as librarianship for the 21st century. She is currently investigating ways to support young people’s critical technical practices and data literacy in community-based maker spaces. Heather Moorefield-Lang, Ed.D, Assistant Professor Heather Moorefield-Lang is an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina in the School of Library and Information Science. Her research is focused in emerging technologies and their use in education and libraries. Her current research focuses on makerspaces in libraries of all types and levels. To learn more about Heather and her work, see her website www.techfifteen.comor follow her on Twitter @actinginthelib. Rebekah Willett, PhD, Associate Professor Dr. Willett has conducted research on children’s media cultures, focusing on issues of play, literacy, identity, and learning. Her publications include work on makerspaces, playground games, amateur camcorder cultures, online chat and gaming, and children’s story writing. Register Now!