UTA Libraries awarded grant to test maker literacies program

The University of Texas at Arlington News Releases


A UTA team will use an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to identify and collaborate with three pilot sites to test the effectiveness of early-stage maker-based competencies, previously developed by a UTA task force, on undergraduate learning.
Martin Wallace, Maker Literacies and engineering librarian at The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, was awarded a $49,800 National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute. 



UTA Libraries’ makerspace, the UTA FabLab, opened in 2014 and has been a leader in connecting maker services to campus needs. 

Partners in the award are Gretchen Trkay and Katie Musick Peery of UTA Libraries, Tara Radniecky of University of Nevada-Reno, and Kathryn Pole, UTA.
Makerspaces are defined as community-operated work spaces where people with common interests in computers, machines, technology, science, digital art and other areas, meet, socialize and collaborate on projects. By offering makerspaces and maker activities, academic libraries provide students with experiential learning opportunities that cut across subject areas and encourage collaboration, adaptability and creativity.
However, few practical tools exist for educators to measure student learning that results from making. Creating a set of maker-based competencies will help librarians and educators understand and assess the relevance of maker activities to academic learning goals.
“The goals for this planning grant are to identify three additional partners who will agree to integrate and pilot test our maker literacies program at their institutions and to conduct a pilot run of the program over the 2017-2018 academic year,” Wallace said. “Accomplishing these goals will allow us to refine our early-stage set of maker competencies and apply for an IMLS Project Grant that will further expand the Maker Literacies Program.”
National Leadership Grants for Libraries support projects that address challenges faced by the library and archive fields and that have the potential to advance library and archival practice with new tools, research findings, models, services or alliances that ...

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