Kyungwon Koh, associate professor and director of the Champaign-Urbana (CU) Community Fab Lab, has been awarded a $149,995 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS grant LG-256680-OLS-24). The award is part of the National Leadership Grants for Libraries program, which supports "projects that address critical needs of the library and archives fields and have the potential to advance practice in these professions to strengthen library and archival services for the American public."
The goal of the IMLS-funded project, "National Forum to Connect and Advance Library Makerspaces," is to enhance the capacity of makerspaces to meet the evolving needs of their communities as well as advance the maker movement nationally. Koh's team will include co-principal investigator Rebecca M. Teasdale, assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago, and project coordinator Emilie Butt, instruction and engagement coordinator at the Fab Lab. The researchers will collaborate with partners from the American Library Association; Nation of Makers, a national nonprofit supporting America's maker organizations; and Library Makers, a community of library makerspace professionals.
According to Koh, with the remarkable growth of makerspaces over the past decade, there is a critical need to reflect on the achievements and challenges within the maker movement in libraries and strategically envision the future of library makerspaces.
"Initially seen as a trend, makerspaces have now become a staple in various types of libraries—public, school, academic, special, rural, and urban—and come in diverse forms. As of 2024, many U.S. libraries have integrated makerspaces or maker programs as standard services, similar to reference or interlibrary loan services," said Koh.
To develop and realize a vision for the future of library makerspaces, the project will enhance coordination among key maker groups that provide leadership to library makerspaces. Over the next eighteen months, the project team will convene a series of online and in-person forums, inviting all stakeholders—including current and prospective library maker professionals, as well as educators and researchers in higher education—to engage in dialogue.
Koh's areas of expertise include digital youth, the maker movement, learning and community engagement through libraries, human information behavior, and competencies for information professionals. She holds an MS and PhD in library and information studies from Florida State University.