Last week, we travelled to Edinburgh to celebrate the culmination of our Maker Library Network. We brought together maker librarians from South Africa, Nigeria, Ukraine, Turkey, Mexico and the UK to reflect on their involvement over the last four years and to discuss the legacy of how the Maker Library Network can continue, as they take up ownership when the British Council steps back from its management of the project this month.

We were hosted by Custom Lane, a new gallery and studio space in Leith, Edinburgh which has been freshly renovated by GRAS architecture; one of the founding members of the Maker Library Network. Over the course of the day, the maker librarians took part in a Think-ahead-tank, facilitated by curator and creative founder of the Maker Library Network, Daniel Charny. The day enabled the librarians to reflect on how the Maker Library Network has worked to date and how it can adapt and evolve in order to sustain itself in the future. The librarians commented that the Network had been “a catalyst for experimentation and exploration”, “a valuable way of engaging with makers internationally” and “life-changing for our space”. Alongside discussion and brainstorming, the participants worked hands-on, constructing models to analyse and identify the weaknesses relating to the project to date and see how it could be adapted in order for it to operate in the future.

We are very much looking forward to seeing how the Maker Library Network evolves as the librarians continue to collaborate and take ownership of the project.

To capture and celebrate what the Maker Library Network has achieved over the last four years and imparting a few of the lessons learnt, we have created a publication, Perspectives on Making: The journey of the Maker Library Network.  Read the publication via Issuu here and find out more about the booklet here.