Austin Public Library launches new digital makerspace

Austin Public Library’s central branch hosted the grand opening of a new digital makerspace on July 5, unveiling free access to various digital editing and creation programs.

“We know that technology is advancing, and the library needs to catch up,” said Linda Rodriguez, the innovation lab’s program development coordinator. “We need to be part of the innovation basically, we need to stay relevant, and what other way than offering technology to the public?”

Located on the Central Library’s fifth floor, the space features computers with free software like the Adobe Creative Suite, Audacity and Blender.

“That’s what’s special about our place, you can just sign in using your name or phone number,” Rodriguez said. “You don’t even have to have an email address, you can just come up to us, and we’ll get you ready for it.”

Library assistant manager Cesar Garza said the library created the space partly due to community feedback.

“Some of the things that the community wants the library to do is to provide a space for connection, a space for people with similar interests to run into each other, to rub elbows, to perhaps create things,” Garza said. “One of the reasons that we set up the space was because we wanted to be responsive to what the community has expressed that they want.”

The space will also house workshops like the ongoing Summer Synth Experience hosted by local producer and DJ Malika Boudissa. Boudissa said she wants to help the technology she uses become available to wider audiences.

“I am an artist, and I use music technology and creative technology as a really big part of what I do,” Boudissa said. “Lowering the barrier of entry for people and to see a diverse group of people using this, I think that is everything.”

Garza said the makerspace will help community members view the library as a resource rather than just a place for books.

“I think that something like this, which is devoted just to the making of digital content, is not something you see in a lot of public libraries,” Garza said. “Focusing just on digital technology, different digital content will just bring to the fore some of the great things that the library does that have nothing to do with books.”

Director of Libraries Roosevelt Weeks said the new space would allow the community to tap into creative potential they might not have otherwise been able to explore.

“A lot of the resources that we have here, they’re expensive. A lot of people in our community can’t afford that,” Weeks said. “(People) get a chance to come in and use that equipment to use their creative mind, let the creative juices flow, and not let equipment, software or anything like that hinder them from being that creative person that they want to be.”