The Saint John Free Public Library celebrated its 135th anniversary on Wednesday by opening a hands-on learning hub.
Even though the library is 135-years-old, director Joann Hamilton-Barry, said the library is still evolving to meet the needs of the public.
Its newest addition is a makerspace, where people can come together to try out new tools.
“It’s going to be a space where people in our community can come together to learn by doing — hands-on or experiential learning — everything from how to use the sewing machine to how to do coding for computers,” Hamilton-Barry said.
“Here, you can come and, like I say, sew the seam on your jeans or hem something or whatever.”
The makerspace features a sewing machine, button maker, Photoshop, Cyberdirector video editing software, Makey Makeys, Little Bits, a 3D printer and a 3D scanner, among other tools.
Hamilton-Barry said people want to learn in other ways, besides cracking open books.
“One of the things that people want to do now is not just learn by reading — that’s still a very important thing and we’re finding more and more people are reading paper books, but people now want to actively learn,” she said.
This summer, the library is working with Brilliant Labs, a not-for-profit technology and experiential learning platform, to run a coding session for kids. They’re also working with people from the New Brunswick Community College to develop a coding camp too.
“We want people in our community to come in and tell us what they want to learn and we’ll find an expert in the community to come in and do a program,” said Hamilton-Barry.
“So people can find out how to rewire a lamp or make a lamp out of a stack of hold books.”
