Making the future makers

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore curriculum related to makerspaces and making within library and information science graduate programs and continuing education opportunities available to librarians. These findings are compared against prior assessments of makerspace-related educational offerings, as well as contrasted with recent practitioner survey results indicating the number of library practitioners involved in makerspace work and their needs. Design/methodology/approach This paper employs content analysis to assess makerspace topics within American Library Association (ALA)-accredited library and information science Masters programs’ course catalogs and in continuing education opportunities for librarians. Findings This work identified a total of eight courses from seven ALA-accredited Masters of Library Science programs relating to makerspace and making topics. A series of past and current makerspace-related continuing education opportunities were noted, with a variety of durations and structures, all offered in online format. As compared to prior research, these findings describe a notable increase in training and curriculum relating to library makerspaces. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this work is the difficulty in assessing frequency of course offerings, details regarding special topics courses and the potential continuing education materials that may have been removed from the internet since their offering. Originality/value Although significant research efforts have focused on makerspaces, little work has directly assessed the ongoing impact of the makerspace trend on library and information science graduate programs and continuing education opportunities.