Idea Bubble Filled With WaterStill not sure why making in the library is valuable? This Fast Company article, Post-Hurricane, Makers Are Designing DIY Solutions For Disaster Relief,  presents strong reasons. It tells the story of a team of makers that went to the U.S. Virgin Islands to help with disaster recovery. It tells the story of broken solar panels and supplies and new ways to put them together to create much-needed power solutions so that people can cook and store food, charge cell phones and computers, and have light at night to continue their daily lives until the main power grid is fully restored. It tells the story of people using ingenuity to meet challenges with local residents and materials, sharing that design thinking with others, and providing opportunities for education and entrepreneurship.

The article also makes clear how to get started. ‘When the team arrived on the islands, their first step was to join locals to identify the most urgent problems out of a long list of challenges. “We go in with sort of a design perspective,” says Eric James, co-founder and director of Field Ready. “We didn’t go there saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to make this,’ because we don’t know if that’s what’s needed.’ Community involvement is a must. This is the same recommendation made by successful makerspaces at libraries across the country: ask your patrons what they need and use their input to find a starting point. From these beginnings and connections, what will your patrons create?