New Programs Lead to New Partnerships

Presented by Janet CrumHead, Library Technology Services

Northern Arizona Universityjanet.crum@nau.edu

Some context Northern Arizona University

Public university, 28,710 FTE (25,612 undergrads)

Located in Flagstaff – about 68K population, very rural surrounding area

Cline Library Heavily used in-person (over half a

million visits last academic year) as well as online

Repurposing space, focusing on technology and collaboration

The MakerLab No money to renovate facilities

Used a former copy room – lots of power and Ethernet, all we had to do was paint

Couldn’t add ventilation or noise abatement LSTA grant partially funded equipment Focus on 3D printing and electronic prototyping

First MakerBot Innovation Center in the West 20 3D printers 3D scanning 3D design Electronic prototyping kits (Raspberry Pi, Arduino,

Little Bits, etc.) available for checkout Soldering Some hand tools

Interdisciplinary collaboration from the start Initial advisors – faculty from sculpture and mechanical

engineering Helped us plan for different types of uses from the start Leveraged an existing partnership

Other faculty involved in the program More engineers Visual communication Design thinking and innovation

Always ask: Who else should I talk to?

3D printing for coursework by discipline: fall semester 2016

Print Jobs for Courses: By DisciplineArt 83Astronomy 1Biology 1Chemistry 4Communications 14Education 5Engineering 188Physics 2(blank - First Year Seminar) 1Grand Total 299

Community collaborations 1 Flagstaff Unified School District

High school robotics team Exploring collaboration with local high Native American

residential students Connected by exhibiting at local science festival

Flagstaff Public Library Making as part of summer reading program Possible onsite demos at various branches (including in

very rural, underserved areas) We contacted them to explore potential collaborations

Community collaborations 2 Small businesses and startups

NACET = Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, a startup incubator

Coconino County SBDC = Small Business Development Center, part of federal Small Business Administration

SBDC contacted us before project started. Connected us to NACET.

Local science festival Flagstaff STEM City – an educational

nonprofit Local commercial makerspace/tech shop

Outreach – new users, new partners In the next few months

Makerfests – with Admissions Coconino Community College

Next year or 2 Local arts community The Flagstaff STEM community – just

beginning our outreach USGS National Park Service (Grand Canyon and

more) National Weather Service Astronomy (Lowell Observatory)

Lessons learned

New services lead to new relationships—and new relationships enhance new services

Who are likely users (on campus and off)? Contact them!

Always ask: Who else should I talk to? Build and nurture relationships

Reach out – who might be interested/able to help me? Casual conversations – chat, explore possibilities.

Meet in person if possible. Maintain the relationship

Ask for advice Share info on new developments Announce/invite to events

Questions?