Chaos and order in maker coaching: Towards a pathway for library makerspaces

Abstract

Ten years have passed since makerspaces first appeared in libraries, and their contribution to developing digital literacy and 21st-century skills is widely recognized. However, mounting and running a makerspace still means embarking into new territory for each next library, as this Dutch study with novice maker coaches showed. Novice coaches struggled whether to structure making activities more stringently or more loosely. A stringent approach impeded creative and playful tinkering, while a loose approach risked resulting in too much chaos. Experienced facilitators were familiar with including more loose, playful elements in their activities. Still, they felt they needed to master the new domain of making which hindered them from effectively employing that experience. Through collective reflection and individual coaching, the maker coaches learnt to constructively deal with the tension between creative chaos and productive structure. This paper proposes a pathway to successful maker coaching which will be tested further.