Hello! My name is Susan and I’m a Children’s Services Specialist at Fountaindale Public Library in Bolingbrook, IL (suburb of Chicago). I joined PLIX a couple of years ago by attending one of their online courses. This course was a wonderful way to open my eyes to a new technique and has improved the way our young patrons explore STEAM activities. At that time I was developing a children’s program for our library called Little STEAMers (grades 1 - 3), which is always very popular. Sometimes I make a take home kit based on the same name for littles (all ages) that can not come into the library to attend in-person programming. This upcoming Spring(2023) I’m working on another new STEAM based program for very little ones (18months to 5 years) called Discovery Tots.
Welcome back Susan @smford !
We’re thrilled to hear you’ve taken so much out of these courses, and have continued the work in supporting young learners in creative STEAM learning. Looking forward to hearing how the self-guided mini course works out for you!
Hello, my name is Beth Anderson and I am the director of the Burnsville Public Library in Burnsville, WV. We are a very small, rural public library serving around 3,200 total, but around 500 in our town. We have 3 part time people at the library. We offer many programs and STEAM programs are some of our most well attended programs. We have an after school program 4 nights a week (LEGO Club Mondays, Movie Night on Tuesdays, Aaron’s Book Club on Wednesdays, and STEAM Night on Thursdays). We also do Early Dismissal Movies that usually have a STEAM activity before the movie, In the past we have had Family STEAM Movie Nights, but since COVID those have not been very well attended. Although we are small, we do mighty things for our community. I am here to see other ideas and ways we can serve our community. We have a lot of STEM supplies, but we have to bring them in and out of storage because we don’t have enough room to have a permanent Makerspace area. I am glad to be here and hope to get a lot of ideas and learn a lot from you all.
Hi @beth.anderson, welcome! We are happy to have you here and help provide you ideas for more programs. By the sound of it, your community is lucky to have such a dedicated team offering a variety of things despite the typical challenges faced by rural libraries.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to visit our website. We offer monthly workshops and provide a list of activities that might interest you. Happy to answer any questions you might have! 
hello!
my name is coley–i currently work at the berkeley public library in CA. i have been working in libraries and/or teaching in high schools/universities/open source sites for a while.
my background is in digital media arts, sound design/music and digital literacy. i love playing with emerging technologies and expanding public access to their possibilities. i have developed makerspaces, STEAM workshops and library-as-studio programming the past 8 years…now want to continue researching 21st century public library community needs. i am looking forward to learning and being a part of this community!
Welcome Coley! Thrilled to have you join us. We might have a new activity in the works that’s on creative play and technology 
. It’s a few months out, but if you’re interested, I can keep you in the loop 
!
Do you happen to work in the same Berkeley Public Library as @geee Lissette?!
Thank you for the welcome! And yes…I am at the same library as @geee 
I am definitely interested in being a part of the loop/helping with research as needed! 
Cheers!
They do happen to work with me–and I told them about PLIX!
Welcome, Coley.
Wooooo!
I’ll keep you in the loop when we start it!
Hi, my name is Leila and I am a Student Support Librarian in Tucson, AZ. I love STEAM (I mean, what isn’t STEAM) and I completely love doing G-rated steamy programs with youth of all ages. Right now I am focusing on tweens, female-identifying tweens, and underserved tweens in Pima County, which is almost as big as the state of Vermont but only has 27 libraries to go around! I love paper, shape memory polymers and magnets.
Welcome @leilalib13 in Tucson! “G-rated steamy programs” sounds delightfully rebellious 
. Paper is my top favorite creative medium (and they’re definitely best friends with magnets).
Feel free to explore the forum, share your ideas, and ask people questions. It is a little quiet in the forum, but the team and the library professionals in the community are known to respond when you reach out! Looking forward to learning about the ideas and activities you do with your patrons in Pima County.
Hi there! My name is Mariah, and I am a children’s librarian for the New York Public Library. I didn’t even know there was a form, but I had heard about PLIX actually back in 2020 from a friend who worked for the Queens Public Library. I think my dream for the future of libraries would be to have libraries become a focus point in their communities. Fighting for funding year after year is exhausting to say the least.
Something I have created with a team of librarians was our summer activities for this year! I was a part of our summer planning committee and helped source new vendors as well as create and edit 36 summer activities for all of the New York Public Library to share with their patrons. Many of them were STEAM activities like baking soda experiments, pour painting (which dealt with the density of paint!!) and many many more.
Welcome @mariahgambino ! We’re also thinking of how libraries are safe places for their communities, and potentially places for community bonding. Rural libraries already do such a great job at this. But the ways they do things can be difficult to scale up for more urban areas.
It’s really hard to hear about fighting for funding and against book bans. Libraries already have so much on their plate. Also, great work on creating 36 summer activities! Hoping we can also learn from you and support you. 
Welcome to the forum, @mariahgambino! 
We love working with our friends over at QPL (and NYPL!). We understand the challenge it is for libraries to receive the funding that they deserve. In the past I have worked for libraries in both rural and suburban communities that had two things in common - budget challenges and the emphasis on community. Despite the limited budget, libraries and librarians seem to have magical powers because it always is a fun time at the library! 
Hello everyone. My name is Yoonmi, and I work for SeeArt Foundation, a foundation supporting public libraries in Korea. We operate two privately-funded public libraries and work with local governments to innovate public libraries. In particular, we focus on library services for children and teens. I am attaching a brief intro to the foundation.
When I first heard of PLIX, I loved that Media Lab and Public Libraries work together. I was thrilled to meet with Ada at Next Library Conference in May, and here I am 
I believe in libraries as the most reliable social infrastructure, and we - as a foundation - envision libraries as public living rooms, much-needed equalizers for growing young minds and souls.
Recently, I tried Korean folk painting -
Welcome @Yoonmi ! It’s a pleasure to have you here. I love the Korean folk painting style! I’ve seen them before as a teenager and have always been amazed by how realistic the people look in comparison to classic Chinese brush painting. Your flower and leaves look absolutely beautiful. I hope to see more of your paintings in the future!
Also, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here, or via email as you go through the self-guided mini course.
-Ada (ᵔᵕᵔ)/
Hello, I am Mary Harrison, head of Children’s Services at the Public Library for Union County. I am always looking at sharing and discovering new STEM programs for the school aged children in our community.
Welcome, @mharrison! 
We offer monthly workshops and newsletters on creative learning and STEAM activities. We also offer a emailed, self-guided mini course where we combine practice and theory for facilitating creative learning.
Happy to have you here and hope to connect soon!
Hi. I am a Youth Services Librarian in Southeast Kansas. I enjoy PLIX as it gives so many helpful things that I can add to my programming and offer my families that visit.
I always stalk the page to see what is going on here. Keep up the good ideas. We appreciate your work.
Aww thanks Lesa . We also appreciate the work you do for your library community. Stalk away!