Tom Crain says he is a self-employed “baby boomer trying to reinvent himself,” doing public relations, creating community events and writing copy.
“I need to find any way I can to cut my expenses,” Crain said.
So Crain said he is “so psyched” about a new space in the Akron-Summit County Public Library’s main library in downtown Akron.
“I can make it myself there,” the Akron man said of the new “maker space,” where he plans to use library-owned equipment to make banners, signage, engraved items, logos and the like for his various projects.
The space — similar to others popping up at libraries across the country — boasts a host of equipment for professional and personal creative efforts: a 3-D printer; laser engraver that can be used to engrave a host of materials, including wood and glass; vinyl printer and cutter for making banners; recording equipment and more.
The maker space is designed to support businesses as well as offer tools to the general public. Library officials say it can’t be used to make items for sale.
The TechZone on the first-floor of the library, facing Main Street, will have its official grand opening at 5 p.m. Monday, although library staffers and some patrons have been giving the new equipment trial runs. (Some of the equipment has been around for a while and has been corralled into the TechZone.)
“You’ll be able to take something from the design phase all the way up to the completion of a project,” said Larry Schaffner, manager of electronic services for the main library.
“It’s also a great place for making prototypes” of parts or products or entire items, Schaffner said, “all at little or no cost.”
A photo studio-in-a-box can be used to make professional-quality images of products.
A wireless printer allows patrons to print photos or documents directly from their smart phones.
Want to make a video or an audio recording, say for a promotional video? There’s a studio complete with a green screen — like the ones used at television stations to add background graphics — and a professional-grade recording studio.
Free access to a host of graphics and other types of software is available on desktop computers.
A “media transfer station” features gear that allows patrons to digitize old VHS tapes, as well as Super 8 film. Vinyl records also can be digitized. Old photos can be scanned and tweaked, eliminating creases and rips.
And there’s “lower-tech things mixed in,” such as a button maker, used to make photo buttons or those featuring graphics, noted David Jennings, director of the library system.
There are also tools aimed at crafters, such as a sewing machine and an electronic cutting machine that cuts paper, vinyl and other material.
A portion of a $190,000 grant from the Knight Foundation paid for much of the maker space equipment.
A chunk of the grant also paid for furnishings and equipment for the library’s new communal work space/business-training area, the Microbusiness Center, which Crain, the Akron copy writer, uses. (The grant also is paying the salary for one year of a library staffer overseeing the center.)
Jennings, the library system director, said it’s rare for a library to have both types of spaces.
Library staffers have received training to help patrons learn how to use the TechZone equipment. But Schaffner envisions patrons helping each other, as some — largely musicians — have been doing at the audio studio the library installed more than a year ago.
Using the Knight grant, the library bought more sophisticated audio equipment that will allow users to “do something more professional,” whether it’s music or a voice-over for a promotional video Schaffner said.
It costs nothing to use the TechZone equipment; however, patrons pay the cost of materials when they are supplied by the library. For example, the library charges $2 a foot for the vinyl used in the vinyl printer and cutter. Buttons cost 25 cents each to produce.
Patrons supply their own materials in some cases, such as when using the laser engraver.
Jennings, the library system director, said the maker space and the new Microbusiness Center at the main library will work together to give a boost to the area’s entrepreneurial community,
Da’Shika Wells of Akron agrees. Wells, who owns the VineWorks marketing company, uses the work space at the Microbusiness Center. Now she’s eager to use the “maker space” to create materials to promote her business.
“Having the ability to purchase materials at an affordable rate and still be able to produce a quality product,” Wells said, “is definitely a value added for my business.”
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com.