This is so great!!!
What an amazing space!
I love the combination of blue and orange here, Alan! Weaving would work well with the PLIX Beautiful Symmetry activity! Have you shared the vector file others can use to laser cut your looms if they have the tools to do it too?
Hello everyone my name is Genea, I am the Director at the Lyndon Carnegie Library in Lyndon, Kansas. I am so excited to start using PLIX! We are a small Carnegie Library, in a community of 1,000, with a staff of 3. I started here in 2017, it was my dream job to be the director of a small library. In our library I oversee the childrenās activities with my director role. I started a tween program the year I started and built it up to 12-15 tweens when the pandemic hit. In 2021 we decided to try again and now we have 15-20 2nd-5th graders attending every Wednesday for our craft program. We call it Craftees, have just as many boys as girls, so this will help with finding activities that will engage both. The favorite craft so far is alcohol ink. My favorite part is showing them new things to learn, and watch their creativity flow.
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Hi everyone! My name is Bailey and I am the library manager at the Whitesburg Public Library in a little community called Whitesburg, GA. I was hired in September of 2020 as a part time library assistant, and ended up becoming a part time manager in April of 2021 after my manager left the state to move across the country! We serve a community of about 600 people, and although we are tiny, we are mighty! We have a very supportive Friends group who goes above and beyond in everything we need. I have a part time assistant who helps cover our operating hours, and we help everyone from little kids, to teenagers, to adults and everything in between! It is quite a struggle sometimes with so many age groups and varieties of people, but we make it work!
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Hi everyone! 
My name is Ada and I joined the PLIX team in December 2021. 
I was motivated to join PLIX because I believe in lifelong learning through hands-on activities. When I was a kid in NYC, I was always at the local library for books and all the making activities they had going on. It was such a treat because my parents, being immigrants, were always working and did not know how to support my interests. In my career, Iāve been on projects developing low-tech resources for teachers, out-of-school data science education, and researching the kinds of STEM learning that occur in makerspaces.
I dream of future libraries to be gathering places, with the feeling that you are visiting a good friendās home. 
You can borrow their books but also borrow kitchenware for new recipes, hear about the local places to visit or avoid, ask for help with a project, or even go there to offer your help on other peoplesā projects.
Recently, Iāve been into making low poly paper crafts. 
They can be challenging but so very rewarding! 
Also I made a modular couch 
as my quarantine hobby.
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Hi Genea! I love that you have that weekly Craftees program. Looking forward to seeing your remix for 
PaperCircuits!
Welcome Bailey! Itās wonderful to hear that you support all ages at your library and also have such active support from your community.
Hello from below zero Wisconsin! Iām Renee at Westbyās Bekkum Memorial Library! Iām looking forward to working on the Spatial Poetry project! Iām brainstorming on where I want this to lead. We are working on community building so I may create something that can include the community: school, businesses and community members!
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Hey everyone! My name is Katy and I am the director of the Angier Public Library in Angier, NC. Being a tiny library, on top of my admin/budget/managerial duties, I also am in charge of collections management, tech services, and program development. Lotās of hats to wear over here. I am excited to join this community after finding it through the ARSL and applying for the Phase 2 toolkit project. We are going to be working on the paper circuits through the project, but definitely planning to remix some of these other activities as we work on building our tween/teen programming. I hope to see the library continue to be where people from all walks of life feel like they belong and that there is something there for them. I love to use the hashtag #morethanjustbooks but I definitely donāt ever want to see the library lost the focus on the physical book.
Iāve been working at home recently on learning to refinish furniture (cheap way to update the house!), and tried my hand at painting and aging a free dresser I snagged. DIY anything and everything for me at home and at work!
Hi Renee! Welcome to the forum. You can use this thread to post about your ideas 
and explorations 
: PLIX Rural + Tribal Library Toolkit Development: Phase 2 Explorations
Iām looking forward to what you do with Spatial Poetry!
Hi Katy! Wow you do wear a lot of hats. Hereās another one for you 
Iām looking forward to working with you on exploring Paper Circuits!
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Wow! Iām getting a lot of ideas for spatial poetry! It can present in many different ways! While I process this great information, Iām thinking about how to use spatial poetry for my library project. Iām drawn to this being an outlet for those who feel they donāt fit in to this dominant and historically Norwegian community. I may even ruffle some Nordic feathers! Is this where I reply going forward? Iām a bit confused about where to respond (and how). Thanks for shaking things up in a mighty and small Westby, WI.
Thatās awesome @reneeconroy ! In case you havenāt already seen it, hereās the PLIX Spatial Poetry: Reflections from the Beta-Testing Process 
.
And yes, moving forward, weāll treat this thread as our sandbox for Phase 2 explorations.
Woo!
Hi everyone - My name is Lynn Dever and I direct two small rural libraries in Northern Idaho. I responded to an email regarding the PLIX Phase 2 toolkit project. At one of my libraries we began to do STEAM projects two summers ago and then added a small Makerspace. Now that is where the kids head when they enter the library. I am always looking for new ideas to motivate the kids here since there is really not a lot to do in these small communities.
We have recently done a couple of projects centered on space so I picked the Space Food toolkit. I received my box of supplies last week and I am thinking of some examples that I can make to help the kids brainstorm.
We hold an event each month on a Saturday and we will use this event in February. When I asked the staff what they thought they looked at me kind of funny. They thought that we would be cooking space food. So now I really have to come up with some good stuff to show them how fun this is!
Ada or Michelle - is there a link to a Space Food discussion?
Thank you!
Katy - I have a buffet that looks very much like this. It is very high quality and it was my Momās long ago. Can you tell me what you used on this? I really like old pieces because they are so well made and real wood.
Thank you,
Lynn
Hey Lynn!
So this was actually a newer (15-20 yr) dresser that had a shiny varnished finish. I used Chalk paint and then aged it with another type of paint. Best part is that you donāt have to sand or anything, and once the curing period is over the paint is very durable. You can put a wax on it or a top coat if you want as well. I would definitely recommend the chalk paint thoughā¦easiest thing Iāve ever used on furniture!
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Welcome @lcdever Lynn! I love that youāre thinking about kidsā brainstorming process. For more ideas hereās a 
Space Food kitchen tool remix over at [Workshop Share-Out] Kitchen Tool Design for the ISS
Iāll see you at Space Food Explorations: Rural & Tribal Library Toolkit Project Phase 2!
Hi Everyone! My name is Ulyses and I work as a library manager for the Walla Walla County Rural Library District in Washington state. I heard about PLIX through my director, who specifically referred me to the Spatial Poetry activity, as Iām a poet.
Iām looking forward to learning ways to incorporate poetry into my librariesā programming, and more generally to make poetry an activity that more kids are exposed to as a form of play and exploration.
As far as recent creations are concerned, Iāve written three poems today (so far).
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Welcome @Ulyses! 
Weāre thrilled to have you on board for such a well-matched 
activity.
Do check out the conversations over at PLIX Rural & Tribal Library Toolkit Development: Phase 2 Explorations. For your spatial poetry explorations, you can play around in Spatial Poetry Explorations: Rural & Tribal Library Toolkit Project Phase 2