Hi – I’m Lizzy Klinnert, one of the Adult Services Librarians at the Barrington Area Library! Like some of the other library staff you’ve met this week during our Library Takeover of 365 Barrington, my job also has a unique twist – I am considered the YA, or Young Adult, Librarian. So I am always on the lookout for ways to make the library a welcoming, interesting, and fun place for the high school and college students in our community.
On Tuesday, Karen McBride and Mike Campagna posted about the library’s newest space: the MakerLab. Along with opening the MakerLab, the library is also supporting the idea of maker culture by creating programs that encourage building.
So, this summer, local teens and the Barrington Area Library are participating in
Maker Camp, a summer camp run by Google and Make Magazine for building, tinkering and exploring. Each week, we take on projects that challenge us to learn new skills and use our imaginations to build something great.
Some projects take ordinary things and make them extraordinary, like our operation game that was made out of a cereal box, clay and some electronics.
Others are more technical. We learned soldering skills to create light up pins!
Some don’t quite turn out in aesthetics or function. We could never get our water fountain to flow, but we learned how to use a drill.
And some exceed our expectations.
We took these materials:
And turned them into a light seeking robot!
Click to watch the Robot movie
Still on our agenda this summer are vibrating tennis balls, fun with Arduino, watching a Google Hangout with the Blue Man Group and more! If you are a teen entering grades 9-12 and would like to join us, Maker Camp is on M-W-F at 1 pm, ending August 15.
