[Closed] Welcome to the PLIX Discussion Forum

HI my name is Bev and I am a Programming Specialist Librarian for the Dallas Public Library in Dallas, Texas. I joined this community for I want to enhance the STEAM programs for the library. I want to create fun and exciting programs for the children. My dream for the future of libraries is to be able to provide services for the low income families without a budget limit. My favorite breakfast food is omelets!

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Hi, my name is Amanda and Iā€™m an Experience Design Specialist for Exploration Commons (opening this summer), part of Carroll County Public Library in Maryland. I joined this community because Iā€™ve had an interest in STEAM programming for most of my library career. With the forthcoming makerspace and teaching kitchen in Exploration Commons, our staff is looking forward to being able to offer a much wider range of programming (for ages 8+) than could be done in our regular library branches. So Iā€™m hoping to find, and be able to share, interesting maker/STEAM programming ideas.

My dream for the future of libraries is that they become, and continue to grow as, places of innovation.

Favorite breakfast food? Thatā€™s toughā€¦maybe french toast with a side of bacon.

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Welcome, @AmandaK ! The CCPL Exploration Commons sounds amazing. Youā€™ll have to post some photos once it opens :grinning:

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First things first! :yum:

  • What is your favorite breakfast food? Standard American breakfast (I think) 2 eggs over easy, bacon, and whole wheat toast. Coffee with honey and 1/2 and 1/2.

  • What library do you work at? - La Porte County Public Library in Northwest, Indiana. Weā€™ve got the best of both world, a town surrounded by awesome lakes and only about an hour from Chicagoā€¦

  • What motivated you to join this community? We are about five years into expanding out STEM initiatives soon to come to fruition in the opening of a space weā€™re calling the Exchange which will have an entire floor dedicated to a makerspace. Not to mention the deployment of out 38ā€™ long mobile STEAM classroom.

  • What is a dream you have for the future of libraries? Iā€™m living it right now!

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Hi all! Iā€™m Nate Stone, from Denver, Colorado, where I manage the ideaLAB makerspaces in the Denver Public Library - six all-ages makerspaces spread across the city. Iā€™m not a librarian, but Iā€™ve been in libraries for nine years now.

I was motivated to join this community through hearing about it through Nation of Makers, and then diving into the resources. Weā€™ve been struggling with the difficulty of facilitation truly exploratory, tinkering-focused activities during COVID - itā€™s so much easier to do a kit where everyone makes the same thing - and Iā€™m excited about refocusing our work as we head towards reopening.

My dream for libraries is that we stop confusing access with equity - both externally and internally.

My favorite breakfast food changes frequently, but right now it is sourdough toast with avocado, pickled onion, and feta cheese.

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Hi, Iā€™m Holly Turner, a Youth Librarian at Beebe Memorial Library in Wakefield, Massachusetts. I work mainly with preschoolers and elementary book groups. It seems that every STEM/STEAM program I have done has been with circuits or coding. It never seems like the project is transferable to greater knowledge. I really like the idea of patrons as creators, rather than just following instructions. I was excited to be a part of this course because I would love to bring some new technology focused programs to my library. I am especially interested in the intersection of art, music and sound.

I am currently working in a suburban community, but I started my library career in a community where the library provided access to technology and resources not available at home or school for many kids and young adults. My dream for libraries is that they become a center for innovative thinking and a resource equalizer for all those amazing children and YAs who donā€™t know whatā€™s available or what they dream of doing or learning is not within their means.

Breakfast is granola and fruit, dry, nothing else. Even my family thinks I have weird tastes

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Michelle, Teen Services Librarian for Monroe County Public Libraries in the Poconos.
I joined for the training being offered because I feel presenting STEAM programming is a weak area for me and Iā€™d like to gain some skill.
Future libraries dream? All our libraries to be fully funded and staffed and have all the resources to serve our communitiesā€™ needsā€¦so Iā€™m not asking for much.
Favorite breakfast food: usually cereal with fruit and nut milk and a side of OJ, but I love a big farmerā€™s breakfast or crepes and fruit if Iā€™m being fancy schmancy.

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Iā€™m Ashley Williams from the Moriarty Community Library, in Moriarty New Mexcio. We received an email about a PLIX workshop coming up so we joined to see what its all about. My dream is for our library to fulfill our small communities gap of access to technology, timely resources, recreation, and FUN at the Library! My favorite breakfast food is a bacon, hashbrown, cheese, and green chile burrito! :hot_pepper: :books:

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Iā€™m Francesca and I work at Greenfield Public Library in Greenfield, MA.
I registered for the PLIX workshop beginning next week and am really looking forward to it. Weā€™re building a new library and it will be host to our first ever maker space! I hope to make the best possible use of this space and educate myself when it comes to STEM/STEAM programming.
My dream for the future of libraries is that more people will be comfortable using them and find a niche at the library that is just for them. I love seeing people excited to learn.
My perfect breakfast is a poached egg, bowl of oatmeal with cherries and half a grapefruit.

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Hi all! Iā€™m Conrrado, Adult Services Specialist/Makerspace Coordinator at the Natrona County Library in Casper, Wyoming. Our Creation Station is about to officially reopen after being closed, then using the space as the quarantine area for library materials, then expanding the space as we joined on to the Innovation Wyrkshop network, a group of makerspaces around Wyoming. Itā€™s been some time since weā€™ve done any programming in the makerspace and Iā€™m not too familiar working with K-12, so Iā€™m hoping to refresh my mind on what we did before closing and learn how to plan for all ages.

For the future of libraries (my library, anyways), Iā€™m hoping to help drive creativity, innovation, and exploration in some of our younger community members to show them that there are opportunities for them in Wyoming. The Creation Station can be used to help this statewide endeavor.

As for breakfast, I usually just have a banana. But when I feel like having an actual breakfast, I do simple scrambled eggs with spinach and crushed red pepper.

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Hello, my name is Brian Edwards and I am a Library Division Director in Fremont, CA for the Alameda County Library.

Iā€™m motivated to join this community as our library serves many families engaged in STEAM careers - over 1,000 advanced manufacturing companies are in Fremont, and we have major employers like Tesla & Facebook and numerous biotech companies here. There is always a lot of interest from our community about hands-on education & innovation programs and we are developing partnerships to create MakerSpaces and programs.

My dream for the future of libraries is that they work together to create a larger eBook depository that overtakes Overdriveā€¦we are all paying millions of dollars to a 3rd party to help distribute collections. A National Public eLibrary that distributes collections equitably (basically a larger version of the Internet Archive collection).

My favorite breakfast would be: belgian waffle with powdered sugar + whipped cream , bacon + sausage & fresh fruitā€¦and lots of coffee.

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Hello, my name is Kari Petersen. Iā€™m the Program Coordinator for the Petersburg Public Library in Petersburg, Alaska. Iā€™m motivated to join this community to see what other libraries are doing and be part of the ongoing conversation. My dream for the future of libraries is that we can again be a community gathering place and also that patrons not have to wait to check out electronic materials. My favorite breakfast food is granola with yogurt.

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Hello, there!

My name is Jen Woo and Iā€™m an adult services librarian with San Francisco Public Library.

I was a teen services librarian, (once a teen services librarian; always a teen services librarian) working with teen volunteers to offer STEM & maker activities to tweens and children. Long story, short - Iā€™m here because I miss making and STEM activities with patrons! Why do youth get to have all the fun? Adult STEM activities, anyone? :wink:

The future of libraries is racially equitable and continues to be the third-place for the community.

My favorite breakfast food is coffee. Lots of coffee.

Warm regards,
Jen

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Hello, Iā€™m Emily. Itā€™s nice to meet all of you!.

I work at Defiance Public Library.

What motivated be to join this community is my desire to do less product based activities and really focus on the process of solving or creating something. The results donā€™t have to be perfect or identical.

My dream for the future of libraries is to be inclusive places where people can expand their minds.

My favorite breakfast food, when I actually have time to eat, is chorizo and eggs!

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  • What library do you work at?
  • What motivated you to join this community?
  • What is a dream you have for the future of libraries?
  • What is your favorite breakfast food?

Hi! Iā€™m Mandy, Childrenā€™s Librarian and Clerk at the Eagle Mountain Public Library.

My director introduced me to PLIX, and I was so excited she did! My favorite part of my job is interacting with kids and helping them find books and topics that they are excited to learn more about. I have loved books and libraries since I was a kid, and hope to instill that love for reading and knowledge in kids today.

A dream that I have for the future of libraries is to create the kind of space where everyone in the community would be excited to come, learn, and enjoy. I think people sometimes view libraries as a strict place where you have to be silent, and canā€™t have any fun. Iā€™d like to change that stigma.

My favorite breakfast food is crepes! I love a nice crepe filled with mixed berries and topped with a wallop of whipped cream! :yum:

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Hi. My name is Heather Perhach and Iā€™m the Learning Media Coordinator at Woodland CUSD #5 in Streator, Illinois.
A PLIX email came to me from RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Libraries). I clicked a link in the email and down a rabbit hole I went, just clicking one great link after another and finding so much useful information.
I dream that future libraries are hubs of lifelong learning, centers for infinite information, cafes of creativity, and gathering places for like-minded learners.
I love my scrambled eggs WITH ketchup, omelets with sausage, onion, cheese & green peppers. I also love my yogurt with blueberries, raspberries & granola, all sprinkled with Splenda. Iā€™m a foodie, so waffles and B&G is also a plate youā€™d see in front of me at breakfast on a regular basis.

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  • What library do you work at?
  • What motivated you to join this community?
  • What is a dream you have for the future of libraries?
  • What is your favorite breakfast food?

Hi Everyone,

I work at the Erving Public Library in Massachusetts.

I love everything STEAM! Newspaper engineering, Arduinos, slime and oobleck, measuring and catapults. Oh and robots!

I dream that every library will have a techie wonderland, a maker space, a place to learn to solder, to make circuits, to explore.

Corned beef hash and dropped eggs with tea and honey!

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I work for the Gooding Public Library District.
I am excited to be part of of community where we can share ideas. I love sharing STEM with children and families. It is an amazing way to bring parents/grandparents/caregivers and children together.
My dream is to see libraries as a community hub for learning and exploring.
My favorite breakfast food is waffles with strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

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Hello!
Iā€™m Paula, the Public Services Manager for the Marshall Lyon County Library in SW Minnesota.
Having this opportunity to learn more and gain more confidence in STEAM programming is something I am definitely looking forward to! I want to expand on what our library has been doing STEAM-wise.
My dream is to send Dewey back to the dark ages and create an equitable, realistic, and logical classification system that reflects how patrons want to find information in the 21st century (letā€™s start with the 300s . . .). Locally, I hope that we can not merely go back to pre-pandemic library use but grow it, especially connecting with those who never have discovered all we have to offer.
I also have chickens (and quail and guineas), so a veggie omelet once a week is a nice change from oatmeal and a banana.

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Hello everyone, I am Mr. Kiran Wakchaure, working as an Assistant professor in Department o Mechatronics Engineering, in Maharshtra India.
I am not a part of Any Library. I do interest in STEAM education; I want to learn and share this knowledge to young mind in the country like India to realize their strength and capabilities to develop Great nation.
My Favorite breakfast food in Idli Sambar.

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