Are You a Maker?

March 06, 2012

Have you ever wondered just how many uses there were for an empty Altoids tin? Would you like to build an invisible bookshelf? Make your own robot? Create a home 3-D scanner? If so, you might be a maker. Makers run the gamut from artists to techies, from urban hipsters to wilderness survival types. Makers are people who aren't content with the products they can buy. They want to create things or modify the ones they purchase. The Internet has allowed makers to share ideas, and the maker movement has become a cultural phenomenon.

Here are just a few of the titles at MCPL for the maker crowd:

• Make Magazine
• The Best of Make
• The Best of Instructables, Volume 1
• Things That Go Boom: or Fly, Float, and Zoom!
• Craft  Activism: People, Ideas, and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In
• Upcycling: Create Beautiful Things with Stuff You Already Have

Online Resources for makers:

• MCPL DIY and Hobbies Databases
• Make Magazine Website
• Instructables Website

-Jeff D.
Grandview Branch