Library to launch MIT Fab Lab

Boundary County Library Director, Craig Anderson, has the vision, and a mission, to create a state-of-the-art learning center, geared toward further education, economic basics and technology for the residents of Boundary County.

Next month, the library will be launching its MIT-affiliated Fab Lab, technically known as Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Bits and Atoms Fab(rication) Laboratory. In 2013, MIT extended the library an invitation to establish the Fab Lab, bringing cutting-edge technology and innovation right here to Bonners Ferry.

What is a Fab Lab? It is an interdisciplinary initiative exploring the boundary between computer science and physical science. CBA studies how to turn data into things, and things into data.

In short, if you can dream it, you can build it at the Fab Lab.

The best part? The education is free for both children and adults. Life-long learners of all ages will be welcome to learn how to use the Fab Lab to create, innovate, and revolutionize local and global markets. Staff will be there to assist and mentor the learning process for those who wish to further their education through this unique avenue.

The vision began, and the groundwork was laid, by former library director, Sandy Ashworth, who retired in September. Anderson will now continue Ashworth’s work and take the library to the next level.

“She wanted to build it, then retire,” Anderson said. “Now I’m here to launch it.”

The Fab Lab, was made possible by federal and state grants obtained through Ashworth’s efforts, along with the Boundary County Library Board, and the Bonners Ferry City Council, making this program possible without heavily taxing the residents of Boundary County. An estimated $80 thousand in grant monies were received for Boundary County’s Fab Lab.

MIT Professor, Niel Gershenfeld, is the creator of the Fab Lab, and has set them up in rural areas all over the world. His studies found that communities got excited and began to believe in themselves, causing a surge in economic growth. The basics principle of the Fab Lab, according Gershenfeld, is to not make what you can buy in stores, but to make what you can’t buy in stores. It is personalized fabrication.

The library uses a computer program known as Blender, a professional free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D printed models, interactive 3D applications and video games. Once an individual creates a design, they can use the 3D printer in the Fab Lab to print it.

Thingiverse.com is a community for discovering, making, and sharing 3D printable things. It is the world’s largest 3D printing community, where everyone is encouraged to create and remix 3D things, no matter their technical expertise or previous experience.

The Fab Lab has both subtractive and additive technology available for individuals to utilize: three, 3D printers, one laser cutter/etcher, one milling machine, one vinyl cutter, and a CNC machine for cutting and shaping wood for the purpose of making something as large as an electric guitar. In the future, Anderson hope to purchase a 3D scanner, with the capabilities of getting precise measurements, in order to create things like prosthetics.

Because of the library’s not-for-profit status, the lab cannot be used to mass produce designs or inventions, but Anderson’s hope is that someone will set up a Fab Lab in Boundary County for such purposes.

“It’s perfect for someone who has a design and would like to make a prototype to see if it will work,” Anderson said.”We’re hoping someone gets excited and builds a fabrication shop in the area so people can use it for production.”

Though the Fab Lab, in all of its glory, has the capacity to economically revolutionize communities all over the world, it’s not the most important program at the library, according to Anderson.

Anderson, a retired Boundary County School District English Department Chair, believes the children’s section is the beginning of a lifelong, love of learning, and is what stimulates excitement for individuals to gain further education.

“This is where it all began,” Anderson said, looking around the room where children quietly perused books. “The children’s section has always been the heart of the library.”

Anderson’s own love for education began in the children’s section of the library when he was a child. He grew up in the country and his mother would bring him to town, where they would visit the library, on a regular basis. This was when the library was located in the First National Bank building on Main Street. The adult section was situated in the front of the building and the children would have to walk through the old bank vault, to get to the children’s section located on the other side.

“I remember my mother would be in the front, picking out her books, and then she would whisper, ‘They’re closing, now,’” Anderson said. “And, here I’d come, with my Dr. Seuss books clutched under my arm, hurrying through this huge vault, with thoughts of the large, doors closing and locking me inside.”

“My mother had a passion for reading,” he explained. “And, after we picked out our books, she would take us to the [Boundary County] fairgrounds and read to us. That’s what got me excited about the library and, now, after 32 years of teaching, I’m right back to where I started.”

The library’s children section has come a long way since Anderson’s childhood days, with everything from storytime to an educational and gaming computer lab, live streaming video of grizzly bears catching salmon in Alaska, and live, interactive visits from individuals across the country, such as NASA personnel, who are eager to answer the children’s questions.

The adult learning center has also grown into a full-fledged entity. There is a computer lab with distance learning and GED/college testing capabilities. Courses through lynda.com are also available for adults, offering over four thousand courses in business, technology and creative skills, taught by industry experts. Courses ranges from software and web development, design, photography, business and more.

“You can find a course for almost anything you want to learn about,” Anderson said. “We’re in the process of rebranding the library, which we featured at the fair, and our technical educator Katherine Boger used lynda.com to learn the basic principles of marketing to help us with that.”

Fab Lab classes will begin sometime in November, contingent upon policy ratification.

For more information: visit boundarycountylibrary.com or call 208-267-3750.