The Teen Advisory Board helped out during the library’s grand opening of Square One!

On Sunday, July 2, from 2-5 pm, the Woodland Public Library opened 745.5 Square One, a nearly 2000 square foot makerspace and community learning lab located on the ground floor of the Library.

A makerspace is an area dedicated to education through creation where users can imagine, explore, and collaborate in hands-on learning, design, and production. The Makerspace Movement has gained momentum in recent years worldwide as a creative, collaborative space outside home, school, and work to explore and learn. This movement aligns with the library’s mission to provide education and literacy to the community. “Libraries have always been on the forefront of providing public access to emerging technology that isn’t readily available to most consumers,” stated Greta Galindo, Woodland Public Library Director.

The name of the space, 745.5 Square One, refers to the Dewey Decimal classification (how the library sorts nonfiction books) for ‘handcrafts’ (745.5) and to the place people return when they need to rethink an idea or try again (Square One).

Square One will provide the opportunity for patrons to learn important skills that can be used in the workforce—from drafting and design to the hands-on work of crafting circuit boards. Square One is designed to be a modular space to bring together the community to share knowledge and collaboratively problem solve. The central design hub, sponsored by Sunrise Rotary, consists of a dozen laptops and 8 work tables that can be rearranged for classes, large projects, or smaller group work. Surrounding the design hub are 5 work areas: a prototyping area, an art and textiles area, an enclosed wood shop, an electronics bench, and a digital arts station. These areas have all been created to be flexible spaces that can expand or contract as classes, presentations, and use require.

The Prototyping area, sponsored by the Dowling family, features a laser cutter for cutting and engraving plastics, wood, and some metals, as well as 2 3-D printers, large and small computer controlled cutting devices, and supplies to design and create projects. The Art and Textiles area, sponsored by the Thordsen Family and Woodland Sewing and Vacuum Center, consists of two portable self-contained sewing machine units, jewelry-making supplies, and other fiber arts. The wood shop contains a CNC-router, panel saw, drill press, band saw, and a full complement of hand tools for woodworking projects. The Electronics Bench, sponsored by Luna Vista Rotary, holds 3 vented soldering stations and supplies for projects ranging from introduction soldering to advanced robotics. The Digital Arts corner, also sponsored by Luna Vista Rotary, holds 2 computer workstations outfitted with myriad programs and applications for designing objects to be produced in the prototyping and wood working areas as well as for audio and video editing. This area also features video and still cameras for use.

This Open House marks the culmination of two years of work, planning, construction, and collaboration with numerous organizations. This project was funded through Measure E and J funds, and the generous financial support of the California State Library and the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the Dowling Family, Dan Chervinskas from American Industrial Coatings, the Thordsen Family, Luna Vista Rotary, Sunrise Rotary, Meg and Tom Stallard, and Pavel and Alla Tkachuk at the Woodland Sewing and Vacuum Center. The Woodland Public Library thanks our generous community for their support of Square One.